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New ILG schedules, busy roads and more. Here’s what to know about Thanksgiving 2024 travel

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New ILG schedules, busy roads and more. Here’s what to know about Thanksgiving 2024 travel

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The Thanksgiving season is nearly here, and while time with family and good food is reason enough to celebrate, the associated travel may impede a peaceful time off.

Projections show that this holiday travel season is expected to be one of the busiest, with more people on the roads, trains and in the skies.

Luckily there are tips to keep in mind before making travel plans, and Delaware’s sole commercial airport is available with a new route schedule and new planes to ease the burden.

Here’s what to know about traveling during the Thanksgiving season this year, either by air, train or car.

Wilmington Airport updates route schedule

Delaware’s young commercial airline market continues to boom.

Researchers at Luxury Link used T.S.A data to chart differences in the country’s airlines during holiday and non-holiday times of the year, and found that Delaware’s Wilmington Airport experiences one of the highest holiday travel surges in the country.

Even though the numbers may have been skewed due to ILG’s relative lack of data compared to more established airports, the Wilmington Airport showed a +83% difference in passengers served in between the Thanksgiving and winter holidays.

Wilmington Airport, which is currently ushering in a new era of air travel in the state with more parking lots and renovated terminals, also added an additional Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft based out of the small airport.

The new aircraft comes just as new routes served by Avelo Airlines out of the Wilmington Airport begin to ramp up. A handful of routes that were originally set to be reevaluated for the winter and early spring seasons also have been extended to the end of April.

Here are the routes now available out of the Wilmington Airport.

Atlanta, Georgia (ATL)

Flights to Atlanta will be available Mondays and Fridays between now and the end of April.

Charlotte/Concord, North Carolina (USA)

Flights to USA will be available Mondays and Fridays between now and the end of April.

Daytona Beach / Orlando, Florida (DAB)

Flights to Daytona Beach will take off Sundays and Thursdays between now and the end of April. The week leading up to Valentine’s Day 2025, flights will slightly shift and take off Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. The week after this will have flights on Monday and Thursday.

Fort Lauderdale / Miami, Florida (FLL)

Flights to Fort Lauderdale, which were originally scheduled to end in mid-August, will take off from ILG on Sundays and Thursdays until the end of April.

Tuesday flights will be available to Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Dec. 24, Dec. 31 and Jan. 7.

Fort Myers, Florida (RSW)

Fort Myers flights, which were originally scheduled to end in early November, will follow the same schedule as Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Flights will take off on Sundays and Thursdays until the end of April, and Tuesday flights will be available on Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Dec. 24, Dec. 31 and Jan. 7.

Orlando / Lakeland, Florida (LAL)

Flights will fly from ILG to LAL on Sundays and Thursdays between now and the end of April. A Tuesday flight will be available on Nov. 26.

Orlando, Florida (MCO)

Originally only scheduled through early November, flights are available to MCO on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays between now and the end of April.

San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)

Flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the only flight available outside of the continental United States, will be available on Wednesdays and Saturdays until Dec. 21.

San Juan flights will briefly be shifted to Tuesday and Saturday between Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, and then continue to the Wednesday and Saturday frequency from January through April 26.

Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida (SRQ)

Flights to Sarasota will take off on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There will be no flights available to this destination the week of Dec. 8 or from Jan. 5 to Feb. 11. After that, the Wednesday and Saturday schedule will continue until April 26.

Tampa, Florida (TPA)

Flights to Tampa, Florida will take off Mondays and Fridays between now and the end of April.

West Palm Beach, Florida (PBI)

Flights to West Palm Beach will take off on Mondays and Fridays until the end of April. Frequency will slightly shift to Sunday and Friday the week of Feb. 16 (Feb. 16 and 21, respectively).

One-way fares with Avelo start at $41 from ILG. Reservations can be booked on AveloAir.com, and can always be changed or cancelled with no additional fees.

Thanksgiving travel projections

The good news for holiday travelers is that weather delays are unlikely, considering the mid-Atlantic’s recent historic drought and warmer temperatures. The Farmers’ Almanac’s Thanksgiving forecast found that the region’s weather conditions will be as close to optimal for travel as possible.

The bad news is that half of the country may have the same travel plans as you.

Travel agency The Vacationer issued a survey into how many Americans planned on traveling this Thanksgiving season, and found that over 50% of respondents planned on traveling in some form for the winter holiday seasons, translating to around 132 million American adults traveling around Thanksgiving.

The Vacationer also found that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the busiest departure date for the Thanksgiving season, followed by the Saturday and Sunday following the holiday.

On the Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving, the 4 p.m. hour has been found to be the busiest time to be on the road. So, be wary of when you take some of the major road arteries like I-95, I-76 and Rt-202.

The survey also found the states in the mid-Atlantic region, specifically New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, have the most people with intentions to travel for Thanksgiving, with over 68% of adult residents making some type of plan.

In a release, Amtrak said that more than one million people rode Amtrak during its Thanksgiving holiday travel period, reaching 97% of 2019 ridership levels. In anticipation of the public transit surge for the holiday,

Amtrak is adding extra cars to the Northeast Regional and Midwest trains and increasing frequencies between Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 between a number of popular destinations along the northeast corridor such as Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

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Amtrak tickets can be purchased on Amtrak.com, via the Amtrak mobile app, at in-station ticketing kiosks or by calling 800-USA-RAIL.

Looking ahead to the December holidays, the agency predicted that the Christmas travel survey will likely show increased intent to travel compared to 2023.

It is generally recommended to purchase plane tickets for Christmas activities before Thanksgiving of that year. The more recent surveys into the winter holiday travel patterns have indicated that Dec. 23 is typically the worst day to fly for Christmas, along with the two days following Dec. 25.

Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety. 

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