A Record-Breaking Summer of Air Travel Comes to an End with Labor Day Weekend
TSA prepared themselves this Labor Day for a busy holiday travel weekend and the end-of-summer travel rush – expecting over 14 million passengers to fly between September 1st and September 6th.
September 1st was expected to be the busiest travel day of the weekend with over 25,000 scheduled departures from the United States. This Labor Day set another record as the busiest Labor Day weekend in air travel’s history.
Summer 2023 has proven to be the busiest summer on record, with 227.5 million passengers screened since Memorial Day weekend, which kicked off the summer travel season. This comes out to around 2.5 million passengers traveling each day! Between May 25th and September 4th, passenger traffic was expected to rise 7% more than the 2019 travel high and 19% more than 2022.
Much like Memorial Day, this Labor Day became the busiest Labor Day in history, with an 11% increase over last year’s travel records. In honor of Labor Day closing out the summer travel season, let’s take a look back on all the records and history making days we experienced.
Starting off strong with Memorial Day, TSA screened over 12 million passengers this holiday weekend, about 180,000 more passengers than the 2019 high.
The July 4th travel weekend ran through June 30th and July 5th and made history as June 30th became the busiest travel day in U.S. aviation history with 2.9 million passengers screened in a single travel day. Air travel demand increased by about 12% from last July.
This Labor Day weekend continued to set new records and live up to TSA’s expectations with 14.4 million passengers screened throughout the weekend between August 31st and September 5th. September 1st proved to be the busiest day of the weekend with 2.7 million passengers traveling.
With these history making travel weekends, many major airlines increased pilot salaries this summer, most by over 40%. Airlines including Delta, American, and United all increased their pilots’ salaries with new contracts that include improved benefits, retirement packages, scheduling improvements, and better quality of life. These contract negotiations have motivated pilots, flight attendants, and mechanics everywhere to negotiate for better pay and benefits.
Pilot Hiring at an All-Time High:
These increasing salaries are a component of the airlines’ commitment to hiring more pilots to help meet the growing pilot demand, as well as retaining their current pilot population and to attract new pilots to fly for them. In early August, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association announced that in 2022, U.S. airlines hired over 13,000 pilots which doubled the previous record, and they estimate that 14,000 pilots will be hired in 2023.
With all these records and history-making moments, there has never been a better time to pursue a pilot career than now. You’ll be setting yourself up for success and establishing a career that will benefit you for the rest of your life.
AeroGuard Flight Training Center has dedicated over 20 years to preparing future pilots and establishing strong foundations of knowledge and skills for their professional careers. Contact an Enrollment Advisor and begin your pilot journey today!