As the holiday season approaches, millions of travelers are preparing to pack their bags and head to the skies, making this one of the busiest times of the year for air travel. Airports across the United States experience a significant surge in passenger traffic, with some hubs seeing more dramatic increases than others. Whether travelers are visiting family, heading for a vacation, or flying for business, the peak holiday season creates a challenge for both airports and airlines to manage the spike in demand.
In response to rising air travel demand, the Airport Infrastructure Grant (AIG) program is providing $14.5 billion in funding over five years to support terminal expansions, baggage system upgrades, runway enhancements, and air traffic infrastructure improvements. As air travel hits record highs—including the TSA screening nearly 3.1 million passengers in a single day in June of 2025—these investments will help airports better handle surges in traffic during the busy holiday season.
Average Daily Flight Passenger Traffic Recovery After the Pandemic
Air travel has rebounded significantly since the sharp decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with average daily passenger traffic now exceeding pre-pandemic levels. According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data, daily passenger volume during the 2019 holiday season—the periods surrounding Thanksgiving and the winter holidays—averaged about 2.4 million. That figure plunged to roughly 1 million in 2020 amid widespread travel restrictions. As those restrictions eased, air travel steadily recovered, reaching nearly 2.5 million daily passengers during the 2023 holiday season—surpassing 2019 levels. By 2024, holiday travel climbed even higher, averaging nearly 2.6 million daily passengers.
Non-holiday passenger traffic has followed a similar trend. In 2024, average daily passenger traffic approached 2.5 million, surpassing 2023 levels. With 2025 non-holiday traffic already outpacing last year, this year’s holiday season is shaping up to be one of the busiest on record.
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Change in Airport Traffic During the Holiday Season by Airport Size
During the Thanksgiving and winter holiday seasons of 2024, the smallest airports experienced the largest increases in daily passenger traffic compared to non-holiday periods. Based on 2024 data, large hub airports saw a 4.6% rise in average daily traffic during the holidays, while medium hubs increased by 5.7%. Smaller airports posted even larger gains, with small hubs up 6.5% and nonhub primary airports up 8.2%. The most dramatic growth occurred at nonhub nonprimary airports—the smallest commercial service category by annual enplanements—which recorded a 20.1% increase in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season. However, air traffic at smaller airports tends to be more volatile, meaning year-to-year percentage changes can appear larger even when absolute passenger volumes remain relatively low.
Change in Airport Traffic During the Holiday Season by State
Holiday air traffic patterns vary significantly across different states, with some regions experiencing far greater surges in daily passenger throughput than others. In 2024, states with major tourist destinations and warmer climates—such as Florida (+12.2%) and Arizona (+8.1%)—recorded some of the largest increases in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season. Northern states like North Dakota (+16.0%) and Connecticut (+21.5%) also saw notable gains, likely reflecting concentrated travel through smaller regional airports that handle a disproportionate share of seasonal traffic.
At the other end of the spectrum, colder and less accessible states such as Maine (-27.4%) and Alaska (-23.2%) experienced steep declines, as winter weather and fewer tourist arrivals led to reduced air travel activity. Delaware stood out as a clear outlier, with a 74.2% increase in daily passenger traffic—driven by changes in service at Wilmington Airport (ILG), the state’s only commercial airport. Traffic there has fluctuated dramatically since Frontier Airlines’ exit in 2022 and Avelo Airlines’ arrival in 2023, creating unusually large year-over-year percentage shifts in holiday travel volumes.
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At the individual airport level, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) tops the list of large hub airports with a 17.3% increase, while airports in other warm, tourist destinations like Tampa International (TPA) and Miami International Airport (MIA) both saw traffic increases of over 7%. Major travel hubs in the Northeast, including Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), also saw sizable upticks in passenger volume during the 2024 holiday season. On the other hand, Nashville International Airport (BNA) experienced an 8.3% decline in holiday traffic, the largest decrease among large hub airports.
Below is a complete breakdown of airport traffic changes during the holiday season for over 360 U.S. airports and all 50 states. The analysis was conducted by Luxury Link—an online booking platform specializing in luxury travel—using data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). For more detailed information, see the methodology section.
Methodology
The data in this analysis come from the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) FOIA Electronic Reading Room. Researchers ranked airports and states by the percentage change in the daily passenger traffic during the 2024 holiday season compared to the rest of the year. For the purposes of this analysis, the holiday season was aligned to national flight traffic trends and considered to be the Thanksgiving holiday—the Friday prior to Thanksgiving through the Monday after—and the winter holiday period—the Friday before Christmas through January 2nd of the next year. Only airports with daily operations during the holiday periods were included in the final airport lists, and each airport’s average daily passenger traffic for the rest of the year excluded days without operations. As a result, the statistics reflect average passenger volumes on days when flights occurred, providing a more accurate representation of typical airport activity.
