US Independence Day travel expected to break records

US commercial airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration are preparing for the upcoming Independence Day holiday travel period, which is expected to break records. The FAA said on 24 June that it anticipates Friday, 27 June will be its busiest travel day so far this year, with 53,677 flights scheduled. The holiday is celebrated in the USA on 4 July. Since that date falls on a Thursday this year, companies often give their employees the following Friday off as well, creating a four-day long weekend for most. The US regulator says it expects a total of more than 444,500 flights between 26 June and 5 July. It has not released figures for the weekend after the actual holiday, which is also expected to push figures into the record books. Meantime, the US TSA, responsible for safety checks at more than 430 airports across the nation, says it is planning to screen ”more than 32m individuals” from 27 June through 8 July. That’s a 5.4% increase over 2023 travel volumes, the agency says. Last Sunday, 23 June was TSA’s busiest day ever so far, when it screened 2.99m people. It expects to break the 3m-mark on 28 June. American Airlines, which considers the period between 27 June and 7 July to be its peak holiday travel period, says it plans to welcome more than 7.2m customers on its aircraft, up 8% from last year.<br/>