Flight radar animation shows pre-Thanksgiving air travel over North America | VIDEO
Over 54 million Americans were expected to travel 50 miles or more from home for Thanksgiving in 2022, reaching 98% of pre-pandemic volumes, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The busiest day was forecast to be Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. A flight radar animation shows a snapshot of pre-Thanksgiving air travel over the United States between 6 am and 12 pm EST on Wednesday, November 23, according to Flightradar24.
The Transportation Security Administration reports it screened 2.4 million travelers at airports across the country Wednesday.
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That number was just shy of the nearly 2.5 million people screened on July 1, which was a record since the pandemic.
But this year's thanksgiving travel is a strong start for the airline industry after dealing with major flight cancelations and staffing shortages over the summer.
The industry is now looking to Sunday as the next big travel day.
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The AAA forecasted that 2022 would be the third busiest Thanksgiving travel year since AAA began tracking in 2000.
Storyful and CNN contributed to this post.
