Pre-Memorial Day travel breaks record for passengers screened at U.S. airports

ATLANTA (AP) – A record has been broken before Memorial Day weekend for the number of air travelers screened at U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration announced Saturday.

More than 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports on Friday, surpassing the previous record set last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to the Transportation Security Agency.

“Agents set a new record for the highest number of travelers screened in a single day! » » tweeted the TSA. “We recommend arriving early. »

The third busiest day on record was Thursday, when just under 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports.

In Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport had its busiest day ever. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport broke a traffic record Thursday when 111,000 passengers, airline crew members and airport employees were screened at security checkpoints. The second busiest day followed on Friday, when 109,960 people were screened, according to the TSA.

With 104.6 million passengers, Atlanta’s airport was the busiest in the world last year, according to the Airports Council International.

American airlines expect to wear a record number of passengers this summer. Their trade group estimates that 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and August 31, breaking the previous record of 255 million. last summer.

AAA predicted it would be the busiest early summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday, including 38 million in vehicle.

The annual expression of wanderlust that accompanies the start of summer travel season This comes at a time when Americans are telling pollsters They are worried on the economy and direction of the country.

Long celebrated on May 30 in honor of America’s fallen soldiers, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the last Monday in May.

Jason Redman, a retired Navy SEAL who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Associated Press last year that he was honoring the friends he had lost. Thirty names are tattooed on his arm “for every man I have personally known who has died.”