U.S. AIRPORTS KEEP SETTING NEW DAILY PASSENGER RECORDS. HERE’S WHY.

More people are set to fly in the U.S. this Friday than ever before. That was also true on Sunday. And in late May.

Over three million should make their way through airport security Friday to kick off a stretch of record-breaking travel around the July 4 holiday, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Seven of the 10 busiest air-travel days in the history of the TSA happened between May 24 and June 27. Fliers reset the record again last Sunday, when just under three million passed through U.S. airports. The numbers are still climbing. More than 32 million people are projected to fly between Thursday and July 8, a 5.4% rise over last year’s Independence Day holiday travel volumes, according to the TSA.

Air travel typically peaks around now, but this year’s levels are unprecedented. Here’s why:

Cheaper airfares

Travelers are snatching up better deals to fly this time of year.

Airfares have dropped 5.9% since May 2023, according to the latest consumer-price index.

Between the pandemic and inflation, airfare has been on a roller coaster. It fell in 2020 when nobody was flying, then edged back up as travel began normalizing again. Inflation drove further price increases—partially accounting for the 37.8% jump in airfares between May 2021 and May 2022.

So even though airfares remain relatively high, they are looking more palatable than they did two years ago or even last year.

Dreaming big

Americans are hungry for travel this summer, hopping on cruises, hitting beaches and sightseeing in Europe, travel analysts say. A stronger dollar is also driving them to some of the world’s top tourist destinations, including Japan.

More than 60% of Americans plan to venture 100 or more miles away from their homes this summer, an April survey from Allianz Partners found, and they plan to stay away for at least a week. That’s up slightly from last year—and up from about 40% in 2019.

Orlando, Fla., Honolulu, Miami and Anchorage, Alaska, are among the top domestic-travel locations for the Independence Day week, according to AAA. Travelers heading abroad are drawn to sites including Rome, Athens and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Young and ready to spend

Younger adults are fueling the summer’s demand for travel.

Almost a fifth of Gen Z respondents to a recent Bank of America survey said they planned on taking more vacations this year, followed by millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers.

That group’s members, which the survey defined as adults born after 1995, also were most likely to say they would spend more on vacations this year than in prior years, travel for longer and plan an international trip.

Two weekends in one

The arrival of Independence Day on a Thursday is inspiring travelers to take flight early. Travelers can leave Friday and return to work the Monday after July 4. That gives them two weekends to enjoy their destinations, even if they spend part of that time working remotely.

“Who is going to leave Friday and come back on Wednesday?” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross says. “You are probably going to stay all the way through.”

Escape, weather permitting

With these crowds come complications. Passengers leaving this weekend should prepare for flight cancellations and delays as high temperatures hit parts of the South, Midwest and Northeast, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

The TSA says it’s prepared to screen the influx of people without increasing wait times at security. More congested airports do mean fliers should think about how much time they’ll need to get through the airport.

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Write to Margot Amouyal at [email protected]

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