TSA screened 2,907,378 passengers at checkpoints in the United States, surpassing a previous record of 2.88 million set in June, the agency said.
The increase in travel coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. More than 2.7 million people traveled by air on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, making it the second busiest air travel day of this season.
The travel milestone was marked despite serious weather threats that came as a result of a storm system that had been moving from the southern Plains to the US northeast, bringing with it snow and windy conditions. In fact, the system prompted upwards of 5,000 flights scheduled into and out of the US to be delayed.
Air travel numbers are up compared to Thanksgiving seasons since 2020, when travel significantly declined due to the draconian COVID-19 pandemic measures. The last daily high recorded by officials was documented in June, with just under 2.9 million passengers.