The new figure is close to Wednesday’s pandemic record, when almost 1.2 million people flew – and represents the third busiest day for U.S. air travel since the crater in March.
Although TSA traffic on Saturday was just 45% of air traffic the day after Christmas a year ago, it means that many people are still traveling – something that Dr. Anthony Fauci called “worrying” when speaking to Wolf Blitzer in last week. Earlier this month, the CDC increased its language urging people not to travel.
Air travel soared last week, when the number of air travel in the U.S. reached almost one million passengers for six consecutive days. TSA figures show that about 9 million people have been screened at TSA checkpoints since the holiday season began on December 18.
Before Wednesday, the previous pandemic record was set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
The increase in air travel is fueling new fears by health experts that there will be another increase in coronavirus infections, similar to an increase recorded after Thanksgiving.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The increase in air travel is fueling new fears among health experts of another leap in Covid-19 infections, similar to a peak recorded after the previous pandemic air travel record set around Thanksgiving Day.
The increase in travel also occurs when executives at various airlines seek to bring back thousands of workers who were laid off in the fall due to the reduced number of trips.
Congressional Covid-19’s latest relief bill includes an extension to the aviation industry’s Payroll Support Program, which reserves $ 15 billion in assistance to rehire more than 32,000 United (UAL) and American Airlines (AAL) employees obtained leave in September. The companies say the additional funds are sufficient to pay these workers by March 31.