Omicron fails to sluggish vacation journey, as airline passenger numbers rival 2019
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Vacation journey in full swing amid omicron surge
Skilled Mark Murphy shares ideas for planning travels through the vacation season.
Almost 2.2 million People traveled by means of U.S. airports on Thursday, in accordance with the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), surpassing journey numbers from the identical day in 2019 regardless of considerations over a surge in coronavirus circumstances.
“TSA screened 2,187,792 people yesterday at checkpoints across the nation,” the company tweeted Friday morning.
That’s a few quarter-million extra folks than handed by means of TSA checkpoints on Dec. 32, 2019, when 1,937,235 folks traveled by means of American airports. In 2020, the variety of vacationers was only one,191,123.
COVID CHRISTMAS: OFFICIALS ADVISE MASKS AT HOME, CANCELING GATHERINGS, SHUNNING UNVAXXED
Ticker Final Change Change %
UAL 44.87 +0.30 +0.67%
DAL 39.30 +0.17 +0.43%
AAL 18.26 0.00 0.00%
LUV 41.87 +0.75 +1.82%
The elevated journey numbers come whilst COVID-19 circumstances spike within the U.S. largely due to the omicron variant of the virus, which shortly turned the dominant variant within the U.S. after it was first found in South Africa.
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Vacationers queue as much as examine in on the Frontier Airways counter Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021, on the airport in Colorado Springs, Colo. | AP Newsroom
Coronavirus unfold is even having an impact on the flights themselves. Delta and United Airways are every canceling flights throughout the nation due to “a rise in Covid circumstances limiting crew availability.”
OMICRON VARIANT CAUSES CHRISTMAS FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS AND HOLIDAY TRAVEL HEADACHES
In the meantime, state and native officers are issuing dire warnings in regards to the omicron variant, even going as far as to inform folks to not maintain vacation gatherings or to shun their unvaccinated family members.
“Please don’t maintain or attend vacation events indoors, it is simply too harmful,” Philadelphia Well being Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole mentioned final week.
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Vacation vacationers examine in on the Southwest Airways counter at Pittsburgh Worldwide Airport in Imperial, Pa., Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. | AP Newsroom
DR. MAKARY: PEOPLE IN ‘DENIAL’ THAT CORONAVIRUS HAS BECOME A SEASONAL ILLNESS
“With the vacation season shortly approaching, many individuals are planning to assemble with family members to have a good time. The Milwaukee Well being Division urges those that are gathering to take action safely. This implies gathering with solely absolutely vaccinated family and friends,” the Milwaukee Well being Division says in its Christmas steering.
Regardless of the very fact the variety of air vacationers Thursday surpassed the quantity on the identical date in 2019, the 2021 vacation season should see fewer total vacation vacationers than two years in the past. Journey numbers Wednesday topped 2019’s complete by about 150,000, however 2019 journey numbers have been larger than this 12 months’s for a number of days in a row earlier than that.
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Nonetheless, industrial air journey is clearly again from its pandemic lows. Thursday’s TSA numbers have been almost double the extent of 2020 vacation journey and lots of instances larger than April 2020 numbers, when some days the TSA screened fewer than 100,000 folks.
Wholesome Dwelling Group’ Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
