Thursday and Friday will be the busiest travel days with nearly 2.7 million travelers departing daily from U.S airports, nearing 2019 levels.
Summary
- More than 12.9 million passengers are expected to depart from US airports over the long weekend, with most travelers – 11 million – staying in the US and some 1.8 million taking advantage of open borders and relaxed covid-19 travel requirements to head out of the country.
- Airports will be packed with travelers throughout the weekend, with an average of 2.6 million passengers departing each day. Thursday and Friday ahead of the long weekend will be the busiest travel days with closer to 2.7 million travelers departing.
- Atlanta (ATL), Los Angeles (LAX), Denver (DEN) and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) top the list for busiest airports over the extended holiday weekend. If you’re flying out of one of these airports this 4th of July, be sure to get to the airport early to allow for extra time getting through security.
- With flight delay and cancelation rates well above 2019 averages, travelers should prepare for potential disruptions traveling over the long weekend.
Summer is finally here, and with 4th of July falling on a Monday this year, millions of travelers are making a long weekend of it. More than 12.9 million passengers are expected to depart from US airports between Thursday and Monday. About 1.8 million travelers are taking advantage of open borders and relaxed covid-19 travel requirements to head out of the country, but most travelers, ~11 million, are heading to domestic destinations.
Airports will be packed later this week, with 2.7 million departing travelers departing on Thursday and Friday ahead of the long weekend. Monday, July 4th will be the busiest day to return, with 2.2 million travelers expected to take to the skies. Plan for extra time getting through security and longer lines at the airport if you’re traveling on those days!
Figure 1: Expected passenger volume departing from US airports over the 4th of July long weekend this year, in millions.
With rising delay and cancellation rates globally, many passengers are concerned about disruption to their trips this long weekend. On average 23% of flights in June have been delayed from departing US airports, an increase of 8% compared to June of 2019. Despite this trend, delay rates have begun to improve in the last few days as a result of airlines proactively canceling flights they are unable to service on time ahead of the busy summer season. As a result, cancellations have risen 43% compared to June of 2019, but remain ~2.9% of all scheduled flights from the US.
Figure 2: Average percent of all scheduled flights delayed departing from US airports.
Figure 3: Average percent of all scheduled flights canceled departing from US airports.
The busiest airports this fourth of July weekend will be Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver and Dallas Fort Worth airports, with more than half of a million travelers expected to depart over the weekend. These airports are also seeing high flight disruption rates relative to the national average; travelers flying out of these airports should be prepared for potential disruptions on their trip.
Table 1: The 25 busiest US airports on the 4th of July weekend, based on the volume of scheduled departing passengers. Delay and cancellation rates based on the average for June as of June 21st.
Copyright 2022 Hopper. All rights reserved. From https://www.hopper.com. By Hayley Berg.
