Reagan National Airport near Washington DC
Leslie Josephs | CNBC
According to data released on Tuesday, the rocky summer travel season ended with a high boost over Labor Day with a surge in air travel and relatively smooth activity across the US. .
The Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 8.76 million people Friday through Monday, surpassing pre-pandemic levels of the same weekend in 2019, when it tested 8.6 million people.
This is the first holiday weekend since the start of the pandemic that TSA screenings topped 2019, a milestone in the tough recovery of air travel. Airlines have reduce their schedule this summer to help end growing flight delays as they grapple with labor shortages.
Flight disruptions during the popular travel weekend are also below recent trends, due to fine weather.
US airlines have canceled 0.6% of the more than 90,000 flights they had scheduled, while 16% were delayed, according to FlightAware. That compares with 2.1% of US airline flights canceled from May 27, the Friday before Memorial Day, through Labor Day. More than 22% of flights were delayed during that period.
Last Thursday, the Ministry of Transport issued a dashboard which lists what passengers are entitled to if their flight is canceled or delayed.
Executives from major US carriers including United and American is expected to deliver outlook for autumn and it’s usually the busy year-end holiday season during the industry conference that begins on Wednesday.
