INDIANAPOLIS — More than 2.7 million people were screened at U.S. airports on Dec. 22, marking the busiest day of air travel in the week leading up to Christmas for this year.
The latest data from the Transportation Security Administration found exactly 2,775,193 people were screened at airports across the country three days prior to Christmas.
Numbers compiled by the administration said 2,021,828 people passed through their checkpoints on Christmas Day, while far fewer — 1,972,183 people — passed through them on Christmas Eve.
The administration said ahead of the holiday season, they expected roughly 2.5 million people to pass through U.S. airports every day that week.
While the amount of people screened was higher than any other day in December, it is still less than the 2,907,378 people who were screened on Nov. 29. That number marked a single-day record for TSA.
Airlines for America, a trade and lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., previously said they expected a total of 39 million people — 2.8 million people per day — to board U.S. flights between Dec. 20 and Jan. 2.
The trade group for the country's largest air carriers expected nearly 3 million people on peak days, or the Thursday and Friday before Christmas and the four days after the holiday.
Air travel in the year had already rebounded from 2019 levels, according to TSA. The number of travelers going through U.S. airport checkpoints was up 124% over last year and 1.4% higher than in 2019.
Here’s a closer look how travel has played out in the air in the five days ahead of Christmas throughout the last five years.
2023
Christmas Day: 2,021,828
Christmas Eve: 1,972,183
Dec. 23: 2,606,577
Dec. 22: 2,775,193
Dec. 21: 2,650,811
Dec. 20: 2,496,494
2022
Christmas Day: 2,217,976
Christmas Eve: 1,800,457
Dec. 23: 1,834,454
Dec. 22: 2,096,506
Dec. 21: 2,366,236
Dec. 20: 2,428,528
2021
Christmas Day: 2,089,186
Christmas Eve: 2,070,554
Dec. 23: 1,533,398
Dec. 22: 1,709,601
Dec. 21: 2,187,792
Dec. 20: 2,081,287
2020
Christmas Day: 1,111,751
Christmas Eve: 1,284,599
Dec. 23: 1,128,773
Dec. 22: 616,469
Dec. 21: 846,520
Dec. 20: 1,191,123
2019
Christmas Day: 2,500,396
Christmas Eve: 2,575,985
Dec. 23: 2,470,786
Dec. 22: 2,582,580
Dec. 21:2,552,194
Dec. 20: 1,938,235
