The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing for the busiest Thanksgiving holiday travel period in 15 years.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, is expected to see the lowest air traffic that week, with the administration forecasting more than 25,500 flights. Last week, the FAA ended its mandatory flight reductions and now stands ready to oversee the travel spike.
“Thanks to the dedication of our air traffic controllers and every FAA employee, we are ready for the holiday rush and take pride in helping travelers reach their friends and families during this important time of year,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.
“I am deeply grateful to our entire FAA team. Even through a period of record-high traffic, their unwavering commitment keeps the system running safely.”
One of the airports that faced those reductions, Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Florida, released its own statement ahead of the holiday rush to assure travelers that it would be fully staffed.
“TPA’s operations team anticipates that Sunday, November 30, will be the busiest day, with an estimated 86,278 passengers expected to pass through the airport.”
As of Nov. 10, the administration said that approximately 13.5 percent of total delay time was due to volume, while more than 62 percent was due to weather. And weather could become an issue for several airports across the country and across the travel period.
“Thunderstorms will continue today for south Texas in [the] vicinity of a stationary frontal boundary.”
“Some storms will have the potential to become strong to severe. In addition, locally heavy rain will be possible. The greatest risk of strong to severe storms will be generally north of I-10. Instability will be a limiting factor though.”
Slow-moving showers will also affect the greater Atlanta area and the southeast.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) projected that approximately 6 million people will travel by air for Thanksgiving this year, a 2 million year-over-year increase. But this represents only a fraction of total travelers during this holiday period.
“That number could end up being higher if some air travelers decide to drive instead of fly following recent flight cancellations.”
