Air travel on Sunday after Thanksgiving hits highest level since March

Nearly 1.18 million travelers passed through U.S. airports on Sunday, making it the busiest air travel day since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 1,176,091 people at security checkpoints nationwide, the most since March 16. That followed nearly 1.1 million passengers on the day before Thanksgiving, despite warnings from public health officials to avoid traveling for this year’s holiday.

The first time security checkpoints surpassed 1 million since mid-March was early last month, when the TSA screened 1,031,505 people.

Still, Sunday’s pandemic peak was significantly lower than the end of last year’s long holiday weekend, when nearly 2.9 million people were screened.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning against traveling for Thanksgiving earlier this month as COVID-19 cases surged nationwide.