According to the most recent TSA data, more than 7.1 million people went through an American airport checkpoint during the Memorial Day weekend (Friday to Monday, inclusive). Those figures are the highest the TSA has reported since early March 2020, before the epidemic shut down the industry.
Airline stocks increased moderately in response to the announcement, suggesting that the figures were slightly higher than investors would have expected - although traffic remains 20-25 percent lower than a typical day in a regular year (2019).
It will be fascinating to see how high these numbers increase during the summer when restrictions continue to be eased and everyone goes off for their 2020 holidays (a year late). Whether they eventually reach 2.5 million or more travelers each day appears to be dependent on whether business travel makes a comeback. So far, TSA officials have stated that business travel is the only item that has not returned.
Source: TSA, chartr