TSA sees highest traveler count at airports since March 2020
Travel continues to take off in the post-pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened more than 2.1 million flight passengers this weekend, the most since the beginning of the pandemic.
As many as 2,137,584 travelers were screened on Saturday compared with 632,984 screened on the same day in 2020. And 2,167,380 people passed through airport security on Sunday, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein tweeted.
The spike in travel has also resulted in a number of incidents with unruly passengers. The Federal Aviation Administration took 3,062 reports of passenger incidents between Jan. 1 and June 20, resulting in 487 investigations with many incidents stemming from travelers defying social distancing measures, mask-wearing and being combative with flight staff. It’s a substantial increase from the 183 investigations initiated during the pandemic.
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Federal officials said flight attendants and pilots would soon have access to self-defense training amid the surge in sometimes violent incidents, the Associated Press reported. The classes, returning in July, were put on pause during COVID-19 and it will be voluntary to attend, according to the AP.
With more travelers comes the continued need for more airport employees. The TSA has hired more than 3,000 employees since January and plans to bring on another 1,000 workers by July 4th with the expectation of having 6,000 new security officers by Labor Day, USA Today reported earlier this month.
FOX News reporter Louis Casiano contributed to this report.