Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is preparing to handle more than 1.6 million passengers over the long Labor Day weekend.
The holiday travel period running from this Thursday through the Tuesday after Labor Day will bring more than 300,000 passengers a day through the Atlanta airport on peak days. This despite disruption of flights to airports in the Southeast caused by Hurricane Idalia, which on Wednesday afternoon was downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through Georgia.
Friday is expected to be the busiest day of the Labor Day travel period, with 330,000 passengers passing through the Atlanta airport. That includes nearly 94,000 departing travelers expected at security checkpoints.
Atlanta airport officials advise motorists picking up friends and family at the airport to use the cellphone lot, or park in airport-run decks which are free for the first 30 minutes, or avoid the airport curbside by telling passengers to take the SkyTrain to the ATL West parking deck to be picked up there.
MARTA is another alternative to clogged roads and parking hassles caused by construction outside the domestic terminal.
For the Transportation Security Administration, passenger volumes through Hartsfield-Jackson checkpoints have made 2023 so far the busiest year on record, said Robert Spinden, TSA’s federal security director in Atlanta.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
This has also been the busiest summer travel period nationally on record, according to TSA.
Labor Day weekend air travel across the country is expected to be 11% busier than last year, with heavier travel volumes than the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to TSA. Travelers should get to the terminal at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights, officials said.
TSA said it aims to keep security wait times at 30 minutes or less, but TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a written statement warned: “There are occasions where wait times may be longer, so we encourage you to arrive early, pack your patience.”
TSA also advises travelers to check their bags for prohibited items before heading to the airport. The agency has caught 288 firearms in carry-on bags at Hartsfield-Jackson so far this year — all loaded — up from 267 during the same period last year. Hartsfield-Jackson typically has the most guns caught at airport security checkpoints annually of any airport in the country.
“TSA is not anti-gun. We’re pro-security,” Spinden said. “You cannot travel with your firearm in carry on luggage.”
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