News
USA | Jun 20, 2023

U.S. screens highest number of air passengers since 2019 

/ Our Today

administrator
Reading Time: 2 minutes
A Delta Airlines flight descends past stormy clouds as it approaches to land in San Diego, California, U.S., December 12, 2022. (Photo:REUTERS/Mike Blake)

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said today (June 20) it had screened 2.785 million airline passengers on June 16, the highest number since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The TSA said it had screened approximately 10.6 million people from Friday through Monday, the Juneteenth holiday, giving an average of 2.67 million people per day.

Airlines reported few cancellations over the holiday period and the TSA said last Friday was the fourth-highest single-day for screenings ever and the highest since November 2019.

The post-COVID 19 rebound looks set to continue, with industry group Airlines for America estimating a record 256.8 million passengers will fly in the June-August quarter, up 1 per cent over the 254.6 million passengers in the same period in 2019.

(Photo: American Security Today)

Carriers, which have already cut about 10 per cent of scheduled flights this spring to address performance issues, are often operating larger planes as they have trimmed flights to smooth operations, especially in congested New York airspace.

Carriers, which had a rough 2022 with high cancellations at various points, have had a much improved 2023 through April, according to the FAA.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agreed in March to requests by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to temporarily return up to 10 per cent of slots and flight timings at congested New York area airports John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, Newark and Washington National, citing air traffic controller shortages for flights from May 15 to September 15.

The carriers agreed to cuts on the condition they not be backfilled. Airlines can lose slots at congested airports if they do not use them at least 80 per cent of the time.

The FAA said staffing at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control remains below targets. Last summer, air traffic control staffing was a factor in delays of 41,498 flights from New York airports, the FAA reported in March.

Comments

What To Read Next

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dana Morris Dixon is describing attacks by the parliamentary opposition on the Government’s Rural School Bus System, for which phase 1 will be rolled out starting September 2025, as baseless, unfortunate and unhelpful, particularly given the importance of the initiative to thousands of children and families across rural Jamaica.

Minister Dixon says she is particularly disappointed by remarks from Opposition Leader Mark Golding who used a political platform to disparage the buses as “old” and proposed that school children be transported by “di likkle man who have dem pro-box and AR wagon”.

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 2 minutesPrime Minister Andrew Holness has urged Jamaicans to remain faithful as the government continues to work to ensure that all residents have access to an adequate water supply.

“For the communities that are without water now, your voice is heard. I personally care about it. And the government that I administer on your behalf, we are working hard to correct and improve. And you can take hope and have faith because others who were in your position now have water,” he said.

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutesPrime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has called on CARICOM leaders to continue championing regional unity as the Caribbean faces growing social, economic, and geopolitical challenges.

Reflecting on her first address to the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in 2018, Mottley noted that the region is now confronting perhaps its most difficult period since achieving independence.