The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported that 2,560,623 people were screened in the checkpoints it manages at more than four hundred airports on Sunday, November 27 (post-Thanksgiving).
This was the highest number recorded by the agency since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, surpassing by 70,000 passengers the previous record of 2,490,490 people on July 1, 2022. During the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2021, 2,458,325 passengers were screened.
David Pekoske, TSA administrator, had already anticipated the week prior to the start of the Thanksgiving season that they expected a higher flow than in 2021, and that they were prepared to handle it.
The all-time record for passenger screening was reached the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2019, when nearly 2.9 million passengers were handled.
The TSA is responsible for security screening at 440 federalized airports in the United States (280 that function as a last point of entry or exit to the country), where it employs more than 50,000 agents. According to their website, almost 50% of them have five or more years of experience as counter-terrorism professionals and 20% are veterans or still serving.
