TSA Hits Another Highpoint, Marks 11 Straight Days of 1 Million-Plus Passengers

In another sign that pent-up travel demand is starting to slowly shift into action, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Sunday screened 1.54 million passengers, the most since March 13 of 2020.

The number, aside from being a record for the TSA in 2021 and more than double the volume from the same day in 2020, makes 11 straight days of more than 1 million passengers per day, something that would have been completely out of the question just a few months ago.

Still, the passenger volume for Sunday was 30% below the number from the same day in 2019 (2.22 million), however, it comes at a time when corporate and business travel is largely on hold and international travel is awaiting border reopening, which is mostly dependent on vaccination numbers in foreign countries.

In the U.S., COVID-19 vaccination numbers continue to increase. According to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, more Americans have received at least one dose than have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. So far, 124 million doses have been given and, in the last week, an average of almost 2.5 million doses per day was administered.

In total in the U.S., 13.3% of the total population has been fully vaccinated and 24.5% of the total population has been given at least one dose of the vaccine.

More good news
The good news from the TSA and in the COVID-19 vaccine numbers come as travel companies begin to roll out more product in anticipation of rising demand.

Just this week, both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises announced their long-awaited return to the seas. Both lines will come back online with sailings in the Caribbean starting in June.

Royal and Celebrity were not the first lines to announce their returns to service. Crystal Cruises, which announced its return on March 11 with sailing starting on July 3, said on Friday that it has received reservations from more than 4,000 travelers, accounting for more than 25% of the capacity for the 16-sailing season, within the first 24-hours of opening bookings.  

Still, the cruise industry awaits a potential date to return to Canadian, and Alaskan, sailings, which have been put on hold until at least February 2022 by Transport Canada.