Thanksgiving, a major U.S. travel holiday, falls on November 23 this year. Consequently, we observed heavy traffic on November 22, Wednesday, with 2.74 million passengers at airport security points, a 4.3% increase from the same Wednesday in 2019, as shown in Figure 1. We anticipate traffic on November 26, Sunday to reach 3.04 million, surpassing the previous record of 2.88 million on December 1, 2019. Despite this, Thanksgiving Day traffic was slightly lower than in 2019.
Since early September, U.S. domestic air traffic, as shown in the 7-day average curves in Figure 2 has surpassed pre-COVID levels, with a notable 11.2% increase over last year’s peak and 7.5% over the 2019 peak. The 30-day average in Figure 3 has also risen, outpacing 2019 figures by approximately 5%, potentially exceeding 7% in early December. This trend is definitely a positive indicator for the U.S. economy.
