US screened highest number of air passengers since start of pandemic -TSA

The US TSA screened 2.24m airline passengers on Friday, the highest number of passengers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it announced on Saturday. TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein announced the milestone on Twitter, saying it was the "highest checkpoint volume" since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold in the United States, bringing travel and business to a halt. Earlier in the week, the TSA said it had expected to screen about 20m air passengers during the busy Thanksgiving travel period - from Nov. 19 to Nov. 28 - and predicted volumes may be close to pre-pandemic levels. Major US airlines had predicted an uptick in air travel over the last few days. Delta said it expects to fly up to 5.6m passengers from Friday through Nov. 30, nearly 300% over 2020's 2.2m Delta passengers for the period but still below the 6.3m passengers during the same period in 2019. United said it anticipates more than 4.5m passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period - about 88% of 2019 volume. Last week, the Biden administration lifted travel restrictions for fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries, including China, South Africa, Brazil and much of Europe.<br/>