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A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer wears a protective mask and stands behind a protective barrier while screening a traveler at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, United States on Tuesday 9 June 2020.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
TSA agents screened 1,357,111 people at airports on Friday, the highest number of passengers in a single day since March 15, 2020.
This milestone shows that air travel is starting to increase again after a difficult year for airlines caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Air travel to the United States hit a low on April 14, 2020, with just 87,500 passengers passing through TSA checkpoints. Travel for 2020 was down more than 60% from the previous year to 324 million passengers, according to the TSA. TSA screens passengers at 440 airports in the United States
The reduction in travel has hit airlines hard. US airlines lost more than $ 35 billion, combined, last year due to low passenger traffic. Airlines have been forced to cut flights, block seats and implement security measures in response to the pandemic.
Airlines are hoping for a resumption of travel in the coming months with new cases of Covid-19 falling across much of the country and more people vaccinated. Thirteen percent of American adults were fully vaccinated on Friday.
Passengers on Friday were still 20% lower than the number of same-day passengers last year, and down almost 38% from 2019.
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