The Transportation Security Administration is expecting the busiest-ever air travel season at airports this Thanksgiving with an estimated 25 million passengers expected to pass through security checkpoints.
“We do expect a record-breaking Thanksgiving travel season,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said during a press conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday.
Pekoske said TSA processed 5 percent more passengers this summer than the one prior and expects to see that same 5 percent increase this Thanksgiving and through December.
From Nov. 17 -26, 2017, TSA saw 21.6 million travelers. This year, that time frame of the busiest days around Thanksgiving will grow by a day to Friday, Nov. 16 to Monday, Nov. 26.
The busiest days will be Friday, Nov. 16, and Wednesday, Nov. 21, when 2.6 million passengers and crew expected on each of those days. Normally, 2.1 million people are screened in a day.
Pekoske credited the booming economy for the uptick in busyness at airports nationwide.
“The good news is the U.S. economy is growing very strongly. Passenger air travel is growing very strongly along with it,” he said.
Despite the surge of travelers, he said passenger wait times are not spiking. The average standard passenger spent 20 minutes in security, according to data Pekoske cited from the summer travel months. He hopes to maintain that wait time through the December holidays.
“We’re ready,” Pekoske said, pointing to additional staff, canine officers, technology, and equipment that will help officers process upwards of 2.7 million people through airports.
“We want to make sure passengers can get through our security faster than in the past,” he added.
TSA will deploy an additional 80 canine officers and 1,200 TSA officers across the country’s 440 federalized airports. The Department of Homeland Security agency has 43,000 employees.
Extra officers will also be stationed at the front of security lines to guide people who do not normally fly and are less familiar with protocols and procedures.
A dozen airports will use automated screening lanes to process passengers. Sixteen airports have state-of-the-art computed tomography X-ray scanners — the most advanced body scanners on the market.
While a commercial airplane has not been used to carry out a terror attack since 2001, Pekoske warned the threat of such an attack is as serious now as it was in the days after Sept. 11, 2001.
“The threats to aviation security are persistent. They are no less than they were in the 2002, 2003 time frame,” he said. “Please don’t assume that because you don’t hear about aviation threats in the media all the time like you might have immediately following 9/11. Those threats are very much still there.”
TSA screened 771.5 million passengers in 2017 — 30 million more people than in 2016.
The highest traffic day on record was Nov. 28, 2004, when TSA screened 2.71 million people. It was also the Sunday following Thanksgiving.
