American Airlines says holiday weekend traffic was three times higher than 2020

American Airlines says its July 4 holiday weekend traffic was three times higher than in 2020, a new sign of the recovery the airline industry is beginning to make from the pandemic.

The company said they served almost 2.7 million passengers on more than 26,000 flights from July 1 to July 5.

There were double the amount of flights from the Fourth of July weekend in 2020 and three times as many passengers.

NEW: American Airlines says it flew 2.7 million people over the long July 4th weekend— three times 2020 numbers. pic.twitter.com/19yejjIP6X

— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) July 7, 2021

Along with the increased number of passengers, the company said 88.9 percent of flights arrived on time. Over 99 percent of flights were completed on July 4 and July 5.

“It’s always a busy one for the airline industry, but after a challenging year, this weekend proved that people are ready to travel again,” the company said.

The increase in passengers comes as many states have reopened with few coronavirus restrictions and as more and more Americans are vaccinated.

Coronavirus restrictions on airlines, such as mask mandates, have not been lifted and have caused over 2,000 complaints of unruly passengers who have refused to wear masks since the beginning of the year.