Airport screenings top 2 million a day for first time in pandemic

KEY POINTS

• TSA screenings at U.S. airports topped 2 million people a day on Friday and Sunday.
• A surge in travel demand this spring has buoyed airfares, hotel rates and car rental prices.

Amid a busy getaway travel day for the Memorial Day weekend and the first holiday since coronavirus pandemic restrictions have been relaxed, a crowd of travelers wait in line to check in for their flights at LAX at Delta Airlines, Terminal 2 at LAX Friday, May 28, 2021.

Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2 million people at U.S. airports on Sunday, the highest number since before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020.

The increase is welcome news for airlines, hotels and other travel businesses that were devastated by the virus, travel restrictions and quarantines.

The TSA screened nearly 2.1 million people on Sunday the most since March 7, 2020. That is still close to 545,000 fewer people compared with the same day in 2019, as business and international travel are still depressed. Airline executives have said that is improving but that it will take longer to recover than domestic leisure travel, which is fueling the rebound.

The agency screened just over 2 million people on Friday, about 74% of the number that passed through TSA airport checkpoints compared with two years earlier.

The increase in travelers is boosting the price of vacations from airfares, to hotel rates to car rental prices.