The figure on Christmas Eve does not indicate the end of the holiday rush, but rather a break before the people who left town for Friday’s vacation start coming home. TSA numbers show that in the last week, 7,189,521 people were examined at TSA checkpoints.
Christmas Eve is followed by six consecutive days of the number of air travel in the US close to or over one million passengers. On Wednesday, 1,191,123 passengers set a pandemic record. The number of people who flew on Christmas Eve is a third from the same day a year ago, when more than 2.5 million people flew.
The depressed number of passengers has forced American airlines to lay off tens of thousands of employees in the fall. But directors from United (UAL) and American airlines (AAL) announced on Tuesday that it intends to bring back thousands of older workers in response to Congress’ adoption of its latest Covid-19 aid project.
The new law includes an extension of the airline’s Wage Support Program, which provides $ 15 billion in assistance to bring back more than 32,000 United and American Airlines employees who were hired in September. The companies say the extra funds are enough to pay those workers by March 31.
However, the Centers for Disease Control has recently made efforts to keep passengers at home.
“Travel can increase your chances of spreading and obtaining COVID-19,” he said. “Postponing your trip and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
Prior to Wednesday, the previous pandemic record was set on Sunday after Thanksgiving.
The increase in air travel raises new health concerns, experts say there will be another increase in coronavirus infections, similar to an increase recorded after Thanksgiving.
– Chauncey Alcorn of CNN Business contributed to this report