ROANOKE, Va. – The Fourth of July travel rush is getting underway, and officials at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport said they’re preparing for potentially record-breaking numbers.
Days ago, TSA reported one of the busiest days on record.
“I think we’re going to see that again,” Alexa Briehl, PR, Marketing and Media Manager at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport said. “We’ll be fully staffed here. The airlines and TSA do their own staffing, but they are ready.”
On Monday, passengers told 10 News that they’re flying all over the country.
“We’re very excited,” one traveler headed to Florida said. “We want to go see the dolphins and scuba dive.”
“My wife’s birthday, she’s going to be 40, and that’s why I’m taking her to Las Vegas,” another passenger said.
The airport asks passengers to double-check the items they’re packing this time of year.
“Last year, someone came through the checkpoint on July 4 here in Roanoke,” Briehl said. “You can’t carry on fireworks. You can’t put them in your checked luggage.”
TSA estimates that they’ll be screening around 32 million passengers this week, a big increase in the last five years.
“Coming out of the pandemic, leisure is off the charts,” Briehl said. “Our primary audience here is leisure travel. I think folks have been saving up their travel.”
The roads will be just as busy. AAA projects a record 60.6 million people will travel by car over Independence Day week, up almost five percent from last year.
“I don’t get many days off of work, so I’m more than excited,” one driver said.
Experts recommend planning ahead and allowing plenty of time to get to your destination this week.