You may want to making your Thanksgiving weekend extra long this year.
Industry trade group Airlines for America is out with projections of flier volumes for the travel-heavy Thanksgiving holiday, and it expects the Sunday after Turkey Day—November 26—to be the busiest of all with an estimated 2.88 million people taking to the skies. Fewer passengers are expected the following Monday and Tuesday.
A record 28.5 million people will fly on U.S. airlines between Friday, November 17 and Tuesday, November 28, according to the organization’s estimates. That’s an increase of 69,000 passengers—or 3%—from last year. Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 23 this year.
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Airlines for America vice president and chief economist John Heimlich attributes the surge to cheaper flights.
“Airline passengers continue to benefit from the highly competitive air-service landscape this holiday season, as low fares and increased availability of seats continue to make air travel widely accessible,” he said in a statement.
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The second-busiest travel day of the period will be Wednesday, November 22, the day before Thanksgiving. Third-busiest will be Friday, November 17 as travelers get out of town early.
If you’re looking for an easier airport experience, you may want to fly on Thanksgiving Day itself; it’s expected to be the lightest travel day in the 12-day window.
