US air passenger traffic down by half a billion in 2020
The TSA finished the year with more than three million passengers screened during the New Year weekend, but total air traveler numbers were still 61% down for the full year.
The agency says it screened about 324 million passengers in 2020, which is exactly half a billion less than in 2019.
The TSA has a presence at 440 airports across the country.
Since the pandemic began, daily screening numbers have fluctuated from less than 100,000 in April to 1.2 million at Christmas.
The agency expects numbers to rise gradually but will stay below pre-pandemic levels for several more months.
Public health experts are bracing for another spike in infections after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The CDC has repeatedly warned people not to travel, but the TSA said it handled 17.7 million passengers during the holidays from 18 December through 3 January 2021.
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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