NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Officials say passenger numbers saw a record-breaking surge on the Fourth of July.Number Holiday travel periods at Charleston International Airport.
“There are so many people. I’ve never seen so many people,” said Courtney Tranovich, who was flying from CHS to Pennsylvania on Monday evening.
Nearly 117,000 travelers have passed through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at CHS since June 27, airport officials said.Number-July 7Number This represents a 12% increase compared to the same period last year.
“The airport has been really busy lately and around the holidays so we decided to wait until today to avoid the record breaking numbers we’ve seen,” Lowcountry native Paul Grizzle told News 2.
Paul and his wife, Ann Grizzle, said they chose to travel after the holidays to avoid the crowds.
“Things have changed a lot since the pandemic. Before, we used to take about 45-minute breaks, but now we have about two to three hours between breaks,” Ang said.
The 2024 Independence Day air travel surge mirrors a national trend: The TSA screened more than 3 million people at U.S. airports on Sunday, the most screened in a single day on record, according to CHS officials.
“This is validation that we’re moving in the right direction and we’re very excited about it. Travel is coming back,” CHS Deputy Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer Spencer Pryor said of the high numbers in Charleston.
July 7Number Officials reported that 13,366 passengers traveled on CHS that day, making it the busiest day locally.
To keep up with demand, Pryor said the airport is considering up to $1 billion worth of upgrades over the next five to seven years, and he said they are already in the design phase for a new parking garage with space for 5,400 cars.
“We’re going to be adding what we’ll probably call the West Gate, probably four or five West Gates there, and then we’ll go back inside, we’ll be expanding the ticket booths, expanding the TSA checkpoint area, adding an East Gate,” Pryor explained, “and then the bigger picture will be a complete Concourse C.”
Pryor pointed to a variety of factors that led to this year’s record-breaking numbers, including lower airfares and an increase in direct flights.
July 4th last yearNumber The trip began on June 29th.Number-July 9Number Officials said more than 104,000 passengers were on board.
