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How many people traveled in the US on Memorial Day weekend 2024?
On Memorial Day it is traditional for many people to travel across the country to spend time with loved ones and remember those who have fallen in conflict.
Memorial Day in the USA is said by many to be the start of the summer season, with many people making journeys across the country by land, sea and air to visit loved ones and celebrate over the weekend of remembrance.
However, severe weather has also affected many places in Central US, with storms and tornadoes ripping through Oklahoma, Texas and other nearby states. President Joe Biden issued a statement in response to the casualties, saying “Jill and I are praying for those who tragically lost their lives as a result of devastating tornadoes that tore through Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, levelling entire communities and leaving a path of destruction in their wake”.
How many people traveled in the US on Memorial Day weekend 2024?
Back to the traffic. According to the Transportation Safety Administration, around 7.7 million people travelled by air over the weekend with more than 43.8 million travelling by car.
NewsNation report that due to the bad weather, “roughly thirty flights were delayed as of late Monday morning, but only one appeared to have been canceled, reflecting some delays facing travelers across the nation”.
The TSA reported a staggering 2.9 million travellers for Friday, a single-day record. Over the three days that Memorial Weekend makes up, there were over half a million more passengers taking to the air than the same period of time in 2023.
Further figures published show that there were 43.8 million families on the road over the holiday weekend, which comes extraordinarily close to the 44 million record set back in 2005.
“We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like these in almost 20 years,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel, “we’re exceeding pre-pandemic levels but also signals a very busy summer travel season ahead.”
Fortune reported that Atlanta was the busiest place of all, saying that “the world’s busiest airport had its busiest day ever”.
“Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport broke a traffic record on Thursday when 111,000 passengers, airlines crew and airport employees were screened at security checkpoints. The second busiest day followed on Friday when 109,960 people were screened, according to the TSA.”