TSA: U.S. airline industry welcomes busiest travel season since the pandemic

The U.S. aviation industry is experiencing its busiest holiday travel season since the outbreak of the pandemic. Several airlines said that the number of passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday rebounded significantly from the same period last year, but was still below the level before the outbreak. United Continental Airlines (UAL.US) expects that the Sunday after Thanksgiving will be the busiest travel day since the outbreak, with about 450,000 passengers taking flights. United Continental Airlines expects that 4.5 million passengers will take flights between November 19 and November 30, which is 88% of the 2019 holiday season.

Delta Air Lines (DAL.US) expects the number of passengers to reach 5.6 million from last Friday to November 30, far higher than the 2.2 million in the same period of 2020, but still lower than the 6.3 million in the same period of 2019.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects to screen 20 million passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday from November 19 to November 28, more than double the number during the same period last year.

Although the Transportation Security Administration has said travel numbers this year may not reach pre-pandemic levels, Americans have already bought flights for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in early 2021 thanks to discounted fares offered by airlines.

If more passengers are screened than expected, airlines risk having to cancel flights due to staffing shortages and bad weather. Last month, thousands of Southwest Airlines passengers were stranded due to "air traffic control issues" and extreme weather.

Southwest said it reduced its flight schedule in November and December to prepare for the holiday travel season and expects to hire about 5,000 new employees in the fall and winter to help increase capacity.

Airlines for America, the trade group that represents airlines, said airlines have been hiring and calling back workers who have volunteered to take leave to handle the increase in demand during the holiday season.

In addition, airlines have also improved the functions of their applications and websites to simplify the boarding process. For example, Delta Air Lines now verifies passengers' vaccination certificates and nucleic acid test reports online instead of at the boarding gate.

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