BERKELEY, Calif. — The Fourth of July vacation weekend is jamming U.S. airports with their greatest crowds because the pandemic started in 2020.
About 2.49 million passengers went by means of safety checkpoints at U.S. airports Friday, surpassing the earlier pandemic-era report of two.46 million reached earlier within the week, in keeping with Transportation Security Administration knowledge.
The escalating numbers present leisure vacationers aren’t being deterred from flying by rising fares, the continued unfold of COVID-19 or worries about recurring flight delays and cancellations.
Friday’s passenger quantity marked a 13% improve from July 1 final yr, which fell on the Thursday earlier than Fourth of July. This yr’s variety of passengers going by means of U.S. airports additionally eclipsed the two.35 million screened at safety checkpoints on Friday earlier than the Fourth of July in 2019, however that was practically every week forward of Independence Day.
At Boston’s Logan Airport, site visitors for the week was up 127% over the identical time in 2020. And on Saturday alone there have been 1,163 arrivals and departures in comparison with 859 in 2021, and 466 within the depths of the pandemic in 2020.
In a extra telling signal of how shut U.S. air journey is reverting again to pre-pandemic circumstances, a mean of two.33 million passengers have handed by means of safety checkpoints at home airports through the seven days ending July 1. That was near the seven-day common of roughly 2.38 million passengers throughout the identical 2019 interval, in keeping with the TSA.
But airways have struggled to maintain up with the surging demand amid staffing shortages and an assortment of different points which have resulted in recurring waves of annoying flight delays and cancellations.
Many airways, together with Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, have responded by curbing their summer time schedules in an effort to cut back the inconveniences — and backlash — brought on by delays and cancellations. They are utilizing bigger planes on common to hold extra passengers whereas they scramble to rent extra pilots.
Headaches continued Friday, though they weren’t as dangerous as they’ve been at different occasions in latest months. There had been greater than 6,800 flight delays and one other 587 flight cancellations affecting U.S. airports Friday, in keeping with the monitoring web site FlightAware.
The hassle spilled into Saturday with thunderstorms complicating issues on the East Coast and elements of the Midwest. By late Saturday, practically 4,000 flights had been delayed and greater than 600 had been canceled at U.S. airports, in keeping with FlightAware.
In Boston, delays numbered 328 on Saturday, with 40 cancellations. Those numbers improved Sunday with simply 91 delays and 21 cancellations, in keeping with FlightAware knowledge.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”