About a third as many people have passed through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints during the first three weeks of December as did a year ago.
From Dec. 1 to Dec. 21, the TSA screened more than 16.1 million passengers. During a comparable period last year, TSA agents screened more than 47 million passengers, a clear indication of how much the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted air travel.
During the first three weeks of December, TSA agents have screened more than 1 million passengers three times — on Dec. 18, Dec. 19 and Dec. 20.
The December numbers aren’t any better than November.
Last month, more than 25.5 million passengers passed through a TSA checkpoint. That was down drastically from the more than 68.8 million in 2019.
In November, agents screened more than 1 million passengers four times — on Nov. 20, Nov. 22, Nov. 25 and Nov. 29. In October, agents screened more than a million passengers just once — on Oct. 18.
During the first three weeks of November, agents screened an average of about 769,662 passengers per day. That is down from the daily average of about 850,432 in November and about 826,983 in October.