DFW Airport

Airports Bracing For Busy Independence Day Weekend Travel

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As pandemic restrictions ease across the country, airports are anticipating an uptick in travel ahead of the holiday weekend.

At DFW Airport, passenger traffic is returning to more than 80% of the 2019 summer travel levels. According to Bill Begley, Senior Manager of External Affairs at the airport, up to 200,000 passengers are traveling through DFW Airport each day.

On Thursday, Jefferey Smith drove his two sons from Shreveport, Louisiana to DFW Airport. His teenage sons were flying to California and traveling alone for the first time.

“Also, first time traveling since COVID, I prefer a non-stop flight for them, so they didn’t have to worry about the connections and all of those things,” Smith said.

Prosper resident Mandy Goddard and her family were flying out of the country Thursday for a long-awaited vacation, which was put on hold due to the pandemic.

“We’re going to spend time in Amsterdam first, then we’re going to Athens and getting on a cruise ship,” Goddard said. This is phenomenal. It’s so invigorating to be able to get out and travel.”

The July 4th holiday weekend is expected to signal a major return to air travel. Dallas Love Field airport has already seen a rebound in travelers before the holiday weekend. Larry Collins reports.

Dallas Love Field officials are also expecting a busy travel period this upcoming weekend.

“A year ago… 14 months ago… we really didn’t know what the future of air travel, what the recovery would be,” Dallas Love Field representative Chris Perry said. “We went from an all-time high in 2019 to what would be considered almost an all-time low in 2020.”

Travelers are encouraged to arrive at least 90 minutes ahead of time and be prepared for COVID-19 social distancing measures that are still in practice at security check points.

“We’re going to do somewhere between 90 to 95 percent of the travel we did in 2019,” Perry said. “It’s one of the indicators that travel is going to return more quickly than it was originally thought through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The president of the Southwest Pilots Association, Casey Murray, said pilots are taking on twice as many flights as normal, while hundreds of pilots called back from long-term leave go through the requalification process.

“The pilots of Southwest Airlines are 100% committed to getting their passengers where they need to be on time and as safely as possible. We are doing everything in our power to make sure our flights are covered and make sure southwest is successful in serving its customers,” Murray said.

“The pilots of Southwest Airlines are 100% committed to getting their passengers where they need to be on time and as safely as possible. We are doing everything in our power to make sure our flights are covered and make sure southwest is successful in serving its customers,” Murray said.

According to the TSA, everyone who is in an airport is required to wear a mask as prescribed by the federal mask mandate. This means that all travelers must be wearing a mask at TSA airport screening checkpoints, throughout the airport and during their flights.

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