Sunday saw over 3.08 million passengers navigate bustling U.S. airports and TSA checkpoints in a record-breaking day for airline traffic, the Transportation Security Administration said on Monday.
According to a TSA post on X/Twitter, the first day of December kicked off with 3,087,392 passengers traveling – beating the previous record set on July 7 of this summer by over 70,000 passengers.
The agency expected swarms of passengers for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, estimating in a Nov. 19 news release that there would be over 18 million people traveling from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1. Per the release, just over three million passengers were expected to travel on Sunday, which proved to be accurate.
BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday, December 1st was the busiest day ever for TSA – our officers screened 3.087M individuals at airports nationwide. If you’re still traveling home from the Thanksgiving holiday, please arrive at the airport early. Contact @AskTSA with any travel questions. pic.twitter.com/lhzGYb2Gw6
— TSA (@TSA) December 2, 2024
Strong Performance
U.S. airlines largely performed well on Dec. 1, despite the influx in travelers. According to data from Anuvu Pulse, 87 flight cancellations were reported on Sunday.
Overall, airlines reported a completion factor of 99.6%. On-time departures lagged a bit, with just over 56% of flights leaving at their scheduled times.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had the most cancellations at 12 flights. Alaska Airlines regional subsidiary Horizon Air reported the highest cancellation rate at 7.25%.
American, Delta, United, and Southwest all reported cancellation rates under 1% on Sunday. Southwest led in terms of on-time arrivals with nearly 88% of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of planned schedules.
