As the Independence Day holiday approaches, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is prepared for sustained higher summertime passenger volumes at airport security checkpoints nationwide.
TSA anticipates the busiest travel days will occur from June 29 through July 5. The peak travel day of the holiday weekend is expected to be Friday, with TSA screening an estimated 2.82 million individuals and approximately 17.7 million during the seven-day travel period. Friday’s travel figure would surpass the current single day travel record since Friday, June 16, where TSA screened nearly 2.8 million passengers. The peak Independence Day holiday travel day in 2019 was Sunday, July 7, where TSA screened 2.79 million passengers.
“TSA is staffed and ready for the increasing travel volumes during this holiday travel period with the technologies and resources for improved security effectiveness, efficiency and passenger experience at security checkpoints,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “This is largely due to the funding we received in FY23 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which places all TSA employees on the same pay scale as most other federal employees. With the new pay implementation plan for all TSA employees starting in July, attrition levels at TSA have dropped to historic lows, which means our increased employee retention has resulted in sufficient staffing levels to meet the increased passenger demand throughout the country. We expect that passenger volumes will continue to grow, and we will continue to work with our industry partners in the transportation network to meet our passenger throughput standards of 30 minutes or less in standard lanes and 10 minutes or less in TSA PreCheck® lanes. We met these standards over 98% of the time so far this year.”
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