US airport passengers hit highest level since March 2020

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1.357 million U.S. airport passengers on Friday, the highest number screened since March 15, 2020 as air travel begins to rebound from a pandemic-related drop.

COVID-19 has devastated air travel demand, with U.S. airline passenger demand down 60 per cent in 2020 and down 63 per cent in January. But with a growing number of Americans getting vaccinated, demand and advanced bookings have started to rise in recent weeks. Friday’s numbers were still down 38 per cent over pre-COVID-19 levels.