According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA), this Independence Day weekend will be setting a new record for the holiday travel.
The FAA predicted that the busiest day to fly ahead of the July 4 holiday will be Thursday of next week, forecasting a peak of 52,564 flights on June 29. 4.17 million Americans projected to fly to their destinations Independence Day weekend, an increase of 11.2% over 2022 and 6.6% over 2019.
The previous July 4th weekend air travel record of 3.91 million travellers was set in 2019. The share of air travellers in the overall holiday forecast this year is an impressive 8.2% – the highest percentage in nearly 20 years.
AAA projects 50.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this Independence Day weekend. Domestic travel over the long weekend will increase by 2.1 million people compared to 2022.
The previous July 4th weekend travel record was set in 2019 with 49 million travellers. Ahead of the record-setting holiday weekend, the US Travel Association issued the following statement on the urgent need for Congress to address FAA staffing and funding shortages through the agency’s reauthorization bill:
‘U.S. airlines have hired more than 55,000 new workers since 2022 to help stave off delays, yet we need an act of Congress and FAA policy changes just to hire 1,800 air traffic controllers per year and ensure they are staffed in the right places. This is unacceptable, and Congress and the FAA must move faster.
‘The freedom to travel is critical to our country’s economy, but these staffing shortages and inefficiencies put unnecessary strain on the air travel system. The tremendous demand we anticipate this weekend—which drives travel spending in every region of the country—should spur Congress to work quickly to finalize an FAA reauthorization bill that will make our air travel system more modern, efficient and secure for decades to come.’
