TSA screens more than 1M passengers per day for 19 days in a row

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Air travel in the U.S. is on its way back up.

More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic began, the number of passengers being screened at U.S. airports has surpassed 1 million for 19 days in a row as of Monday, according to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data. This marks the most prolonged travel rebound amid the pandemic. 

On Monday, the TSA screened more than 1.4 million travelers, a significant increase from last year, when the agency only screened 154,080 travelers. However, Monday’s traveler throughput was still lower than in 2019, when the agency screened 2.36 million travelers, TSA data shows.

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Airlines have also seen an uptick in bookings, despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance against non-essential travel.

Airlines have seen an uptick in bookings, despite the CDC's recommendation to avoid non-essential travel. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

American Airlines told the AP Monday that bookings are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels as more people get vaccinated. 

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The strongest travel demand is for domestic and short-haul international trips. American said that as of Friday, its seven-day moving average of net bookings — new trips minus cancellations — was at about 90% of bookings during the same period in 2019. American said strong bookings should continue into the second quarter, which starts Thursday.

As a result, the airline expects to return most of its planes to service in the second quarter after grounding hundreds during the pandemic.

Other airlines, including Delta and Southwest, have reported that bookings began picking up around mid-February.

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On Monday during a White House briefing, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky made a renewed plea to avoid travel and to get vaccinated.

Walensky said she had a feeling of "impending doom," and suggested that virus cases could soon spike in the United States as they have in several European countries.

"What we’re seeing now is more travel than we saw throughout the pandemic, including the Christmas and New Year’s holidays," which were followed by surges in new cases, Walensky said during the briefing. "I would just sort of reiterate the recommendations from CDC, saying please limit travel to essential travel for the time being."

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New reported cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have increased 18% in the past two weeks. Through Sunday, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases stood at 63,239, up from 53,670 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

However, deaths declined 29% over that same period, to an average of 1,363 per day to 970 per day by Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.