It’s beginning to look alot like Friday will be the start of a record Christmas holiday travel rush across the U.S. with roads and airports bearing the majority of the happy holidaymakers.
AP reports the numbers will keep on spiking through to New Year:
The auto club AAA predicts that more than 119 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between Saturday and New Year’s Day, which would top the previous holiday-season high set in 2019. The two weekends on either side of Christmas look to be some of the most crowded times on the road and at airports.
Trade group Airlines for America also foresees record travel, saying it expected U.S. airlines to carry 54 million passengers during a 19-day period that started Thursday and ends Monday, Jan. 6. The number would represent a 6% increase over last year.
Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Friday and Sunday, and on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 29. Flight traffic is expected to be light on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The slowest U.S. air-travel day this year — by a wide margin — was Thanksgiving Day.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays and through January 2.
Meanwhile some 90 percent of Americans traveling far from home during the Christmas holiday travel rush will be in cars, according to AAA.
“Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday,” AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said.
