The FAA is projecting the busiest Thanksgiving week for air travel in 15 years, with over 360,000 flights set to take place across the U.S. through Dec. 2.
The agency said it expects flights to peak on Tuesday, with 52,185 connections. Wednesday will be only slightly less busy, with just over 50,000 flights.
On Thanksgiving Day itself there will be much less travel, the FAA predicts, with only 25,611 flights. As Americans start to head back home, flights will rebound, hitting a post-holiday peak of 51,268 on Sunday, Nov. 30.
The holiday rush comes just weeks after the federal government officially reopened and the FAA dropped mandatory limits on flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports. The reductions were meant to ease the burden on air traffic controllers, who were working without pay and whose ranks were thinned by call-outs.
“Thanks to the dedication of our air traffic controllers and every FAA employee, we are ready for the holiday rush and take pride in helping travelers reach their friends and families during this important time of year,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to our entire FAA team. Even through a period of record-high traffic, their unwavering commitment keeps the system running safely.”
Major U.S. airlines have largely echoed the position of the FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation, insisting that operations will be running smoothly and that passengers will likely not experience problems beyond the normal large crowds that are common around Thanksgiving every year.
The busiest travel days of the year in the U.S. are usually the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after, according to the TSA.
As of Monday at 2 p.m., there were around 3,000 flight delays in the U.S. and 228 cancellations, according to tracking website Flight Aware. Those numbers are roughly in line with the average travel day in the U.S.
Dallas/Fort Worth and Dallas Love Field saw the highest number of cancellations.
