US screened record 3.08 million airline passengers on Sunday, agency says

The record travel coincides with the peak day of the Thanksgiving travel season. Airlines for America had projected U.S. carriers would fly more than 31 million passengers over the holiday period, up from nearly 29 million passengers during the same period in 2023.

This is only the second time the agency has screened more than 3 million passengers in a single day. The TSA earlier said it expected to screen a record 18.3 million people from Nov. 26 to Monday, up 6% over 2023.

American Airlines said Saturday it operated 58,000 flights through Friday and have canceled just 95 total flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it handled more than 232,000 flights between Nov. 24-28, a record number for the Thanksgiving week.

The FAA said just 0.3% of flights were canceled, and delays were a record low 1.2%. The FAA has been dealing with a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers.

United Airlines said last week the issue was resulting in a "significant disruption" at its Newark, New Jersey hub.