Despite disruptions to air travel caused by a global crowdstrike outage in July and a busy summer storm season across the country, the rate of flight cancellations in the U.S. stands at 1.6% so far this year.
The data comes from a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation released on Aug. 29. For comparison, Reuters reports that the cancellation rate for 2023 was 1.5%. This year’s cancellation rate would be the second-lowest since 2017.
According to the report, air travel volumes are at an all-time high: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has already screened 239.8 million travelers since Memorial Day weekend, or about 2.7 million per day, and passenger numbers this summer are up 8.5% from last year.
The top 10 busiest travel days in TSA history all occurred after May 2024. The busiest day was July 7, when more than 3 million people were screened at TSA security checkpoints in one day.
The TSA plans to screen more than 17 million people by Labor Day weekend, which is expected to be the busiest on record. The busiest travel days will be from Thursday, August 29 to Wednesday, September 4. August 30 will be the peak travel day, when the TSA expects to screen 2.86 million travelers.
“More people are traveling this summer than ever before, and TSA, along with our airline and airport partners, is ready to close out the busiest summer travel period on record over the upcoming Labor Day weekend,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoski. “From our TSOs on the front lines at security checkpoints at airports across the country to those working behind the scenes, I commend our vigilant employees who are working hard to keep our transportation system safe, especially as we continue to roll out new checkpoint technology that improves security effectiveness, efficiency and the passenger experience.”
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