U.S. airports reach highest number passengers since start of pandemic.

Redacción - Aviación al Día

4 years ago

U.S. airports recorded their highest number of passengers since March 2020 on Friday and Monday during the first long weekend of the season, according to data released by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Some 1.96 million passengers traveled from U.S. airports on Friday, and 1.90 million on Monday.

That’s at least five times more than the same Memorial Day weekend last year. But it’s still 24% less than the same period in 2019, AFP reported.

Boosted by the covid-19 vaccination campaign and a nationwide drop in the number of infections, air traffic is gradually recovering in the United States, with the number of daily passengers at airports topping 1 million since mid-March.

At its lowest level, on April 13, 2020, only 87,534 people took a flight in the country.

For this long weekend, considered the start of the summer season in the United States, the AAA automobile association had warned that fuel prices at service stations would be the highest since 2014.

On Tuesday, the average price of gasoline was $3.04 a gallon (3.79 liters) nationwide, up from $1.99 this time last year.

Hilton Hotel Group CEO Christopher Nassetta said in an interview on CNBC that there was 93% hotel occupancy Saturday night in the United States, “which is certainly the highest rate since the pandemic occurred.”

“Our bookings for this (boreal) summer right now are higher than we’ve seen in 2019,” he added.