The Transportation Security Administration screened the fewest number of travelers on Tuesday than it has during a one-day period in nearly a decade as the coronavirus pandemic severely limits travel.
The TSA screened 983,226 people Tuesday, marking the lowest number since the 2011 snowstorm “Snowpocalypse,” which took place on Feb. 1 of that year, according to TSA data. The blizzard resulted in canceled air traffic across North America. Prior to that, the last time the TSA screened fewer than a million travelers on a given day was on May 30, 2004, Politico reported.
The decline came as President Trump has limited travel internationally. The United States and Canada finalized a short-term border policy to restrict nonessential travel on Wednesday, days after the U.S. banned the entry of all foreign nationals who had visited China, Iran, and the Schengen Area within 14 days. In addition, airlines have begun to cut flights that otherwise would have taken place with near-empty planes.
The International Air Transport Association estimated in February that the airline industry would lose about $30 billion in revenue over the pandemic. President Trump has said that the industry can expect some sort of bailout.
“Airlines would be No. 1,” he said, according to USA Today. “You go from having the best year they have ever had to having no passengers because of what we have had to do to win this war — and it’s a war.”
