The AAA predicted some 3.4 million Americans would fly over the holiday weekend—exceeding both pre-pandemic levels and those seen the same time last year.
The unofficial start of summer is expected to see a massive rise in travel as Americans make the most of the Memorial Day weekend, with air travel set to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated that 3.4 million people are expected to fly between Thursday to Monday, based on figures prepared in mid-April—an increase of 11 percent compared to 2022. It also estimated there would be 170,000 more passengers than in 2019.
With the prospect of packed airports, there are concerns of a repeat of the mass delays and cancellations the industry struggled to cope with during a surge in air passengers in 2022.
“This is expected to be the third-busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000, when AAA started tracking holiday travel,” Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement on May 15. “This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.”
“We’ve invested in our operational resilience for this summer,” she said. “We’re nimbler, more adaptable and are structurally better prepared.”
Across all forms of travel, the AAA expects 42.3 million Americans—around 13 percent of the nation’s total population—to travel 50 miles or more, a rise of 7 percent on last year.
