Nearly one month ago, I wrote an article titled “The Real Numbers: Are People Still Flying?” in which we looked at the daily amount of passengers that were traveling domestically and compared it to daily amount of passengers that were traveling the previous year (2019).
Over the past week or so, we’ve seen many states “re-open” their economies (e.g. restaurants, nail salons, barbershops, etc.) and I thought it would be interesting to look at the number of passengers transiting through TSA again to see determine if people feel safe (or at least safer) given these new developments.
So how many people are traveling now and how does it compare to this time last year? The numbers may surprise you.
THE REAL NUMBERS
The TSA’s Public Affairs spokesperson, Lisa Farbstein, shares a lot of interesting data on her Twitter account (@tsamedia_lisaf). But perhaps the most interesting data she shares is on how many people are passing through TSA checkpoints.
In addition to the current daily numbers, she provides a comparison of how many people passed through TSA checkpoints during this time the previous year.
It’s worth noting that some days of the week are busier than others so you may see a dip in numbers. But let’s look at the numbers since 4/14/20, which represented a new record low for traffic and the percentage of flying passengers compared to last year.
| Date | 2019 | 2020 | % of passengers flying |
| 5/1 | 171,563 | 2,546,029 | ~6.7 |
| 4/30 | 154,695 | 2,499,461 | ~6.2 |
| 4/29 | 119,629 | 2,256,442 | ~5.3 |
| 4/28 | 110,913 | 2,102,068 | ~5.1 |
| 4/27 | 119,854 | 2,412,770 | ~5.0 |
| 4/26 | 128,875 | 2,506,809 | ~5.1 |
| 4/25 | 114,459 | 1,990,464 | ~5.8 |
| 4/24 | 123,464 | 2,521,897 | ~4.9 |
| 4/23 | 111,627 | 2,526,961 | ~4.4 |
| 4/22 | 98,968 | 2,254,209 | ~4.4 |
| 4/21 | 92,859 | 2,227,475 | ~4.2 |
| 4/20 | 99,344 | 2,594,171 | ~3.8 |
| 4/19 | 105,382 | 2,356,802 | ~4.5 |
| 4/18 | 97,236 | 1,988,205 | ~4.9 |
| 4/17 | 106,385 | 2,457,133 | ~4.3 |
| 4/16 | 95,085 | 2,616,158 | ~3.6 |
| 4/15 | 90,784 | 2,317,381 | ~3.9 |
| 4/14 | 87,534 | 2,208,688 | ~4.0 |
Note: TSA also updates these numbers every morning at 9AM if you don’t have twitter (CLICK HERE).
FINAL STAMP
Over the course of the last two weeks, the number of passengers transiting through TSA have doubled.
Although, the ~171,000 passengers compared to the “normal” 2.2 million passengers is still slim, I find these numbers fascinating….and surprising because I didn’t think the numbers would increase so fast.
Are you surprised by these numbers? Do you feel it’s “safe” to travel? Do you plan to fly again soon?
1TattedPassport 