More than three million travellers pass through US security, a record

Agents checked 35 passengers per second as travel surged to a new high on Sunday, July 7.

More than three million people passed through United States airport security on Sunday, the first time that number of passengers have been screened in a single day as travel surges, according to the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The record, which was widely predicted to happen at some point over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, topped the June 23 mark of more than 2.99 million screened passengers. Eight of the 10 busiest days in TSA’s history have come this year as the number of travellers tops levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

TSA was created after the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, and replaced a collection of private security companies that were hired by airlines. The agency operates under the Department of Homeland Security, which said that agents on Sunday checked 35 passengers every second.

While Americans continue to grapple with inflation, travel costs including airline tickets and hotel prices have eased significantly from a year ago. Hotel rooms were 1.2 percent cheaper in May compared with a year ago, according to recent government inflation data. Those costs have been trending lower since the beginning of the year.

While most US airlines lost money in the first quarter — traditionally the weakest time of year for travel — they were all expecting a summer of full planes.