Airlines and travel experts are expecting a very busy season.
ATLANTA — Delta is expecting a very, very busy Thanksgiving travel period that could surpass even pre-Covid 2019 numbers.
The company said in an email Monday that they expect to see 6.2-6.4 million customers flying through the Thanksgiving holiday period of last Friday, Nov. 17 to next Tuesday, Nov. 28.
At the higher end of that estimate, 2023’s Thanksgiving period would top the 6.25 million customers that Delta saw in 2019. It would also soar past last year’s figure of 5.7 million.
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The company estimates during this time that it will average 515,000 to 530,000 customers per day.
When will that be at its peak?
Thanksgiving holiday travel peak periods
According to Delta, we may have already passed the peak departure point.
The company said in an email that it expected the Friday before Thanksgiving – last week, on Nov. 17 – to be the peak travel day on the front end. That would align with what Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport expected, posting on X last Friday that it was the “busiest travel day of the year.”
On the back end, Delta is expecting the Sunday and Monday after the holiday to be the peak travel days.
The company said in a statement: “Delta’s Operations and Customer Center (OCC) serves as ‘mission control’ for over 4,000 flights a day and is staffed 24/7 by teams of seasoned professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that flight operations are as smooth as possible for our customers as they make these meaningful trips to and from loved ones over the holidays. The OCC is constantly communicating with work groups, crews and frontline teams to ensure safe and on-time service for our customers.”
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