TSA and RIC anticipate record-breaking travel weekend, safety measures increase

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — People are taking to the skies for what is shaping up to be a potentially record-breaking travel weekend.    
 
As scores of travelers are heading to their destinations ahead of the Independence Day holiday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is bracing itself for unprecedented traffic volumes. Leaders say that a decades old record could be broken on Friday, June 28.  
  
Officials at Richmond International Airport (RIC) are sounding off about record breaking travel, but they are also worried about the uptick of weapons being brought to the airport. 

Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson with the TSA, said the administration expects to screen more than 32 million people between Thursday, June 27 and Monday, July 8 at airports across the country. 

That number is up more than 5% from 2023’s Independence Day holiday travel, according to Farbstein.

“Last Sunday the TSA screened 2.99 million passengers, which was the busiest day ever in our history, and it is very possible that today might hit the 3 million mark nationwide. And that would be quite a milestone,” Farbstein said. 

The TSA is highlighting those record-breaking numbers as summer travel is expected reach a fever pitch today. Officials say seven of the top 10 busiest travel days to ever be recorded have happened in the last 30 days.

Troy Bell, Director of Marketing & Air Service Development at RIC, said the numbers locally are staggering as well and have been for months. 

“We’ve had 15 consecutive record months at Richmond,” said Bell. “So if we’re not [at] a record tomorrow or today with traffic, we’re going to be pretty close. This has been a big summer, we expect the momentum to just carry through all summer long.” 

Both leaders say they have to stay increasingly vigilant when it comes to what people are bringing with them to catch their flight. 

“You cannot travel with any form of fireworks. I mean, not black cats, not M-80s, not even little sparklers or poppers that you might do. None of that travels on board an airplane, not [in a] checked bag, not in carry on, just leave it at home,” Bell said.

Even though officials are keeping their eyes open for explosives this holiday season they say they won’t slack off in looking for firearms as well, which have increased this year. 

“At Richmond, we actually bucked the trend last year. We went backwards, so we actually saw less handguns, but [for] firearms so far in 2024, we’ve already found more this year than we found all of last year,” Bell said.

Not only will the airports be busy during this holiday period, but so will the roadways. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), more than 60 million people will be traveling by car with another 5 million using trains and other means.