On Saturday, after the numbers at TSA screening checkpoints across the United States jumped, I predicted that the TSA throughput was going to break the million mark (regarding the number of people passing through security checkpoints at airports across the USA). It turns out they did cross the milestone yesterday (October 18, 2020). The number just released was 1,031,505.

 

BREAKING NEWS: @TSA screened 1,031,505 people at security checkpoints nationwide yesterday, Sunday, Oct. 18. It’s the first time volume topped 1 million since the pandemic low point of April 14, when 87,534 people were screened. It’s still 60% lower throughput than one year ago. – Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast)

You can see all of the data here but today marks the first time since March 16 that TSA throughput numbers broke a million. FYI: The lowest number was on April 14, 2020 with just 87,534 people going through but keep in mind, even though 1,031,505 sounds high, a year ago on that same Sunday, that number was 2,606,266. And as always, the numbers are not just passengers but also account for everyone who goes through security including airport workers and airline crew.

Nevertheless, it’s still an encouraging sign that travel is slowly recovering. It’s definitely not business travel since most companies have put a freeze on travel and conventions. So what do you think caused TSA throughput to reach the one million mark? There wasn’t a holiday like last weekend. Was it the studies showing that the air on planes is much safer than the air at home? Was it the fact like places like Hawaii just opened up? Is it because more and more airlines and airports are offering COVID-19 testing? Or is it because people are just sick and tired of staying home?

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