DAYTON — With Thanksgiving two days away, airlines are predicting record travel for the holiday over the next week.
Travelers are hoping for a smooth holiday season after thousands of flights were canceled during the government shutdown.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- Questions about snow returning to the Valley
- 25-year-old man dies after motorcycle hits van in Ohio
- Police searching for 2 women accused of stealing items from Ulta Beauty
At Dayton International Airport, the line of cars outside was an indication of how many flyers there were inside.
Laveda Greene is traveling from Atlanta to see her family.
“Born and raised here in Dayton. So, back visiting with family and friends,” said Greene.
Lavonne Ward from Lima is flying to Memphis, Tennessee, to see her family and enjoy the holidays.
They’re just some of the 18 million travelers that TSA plans to screen over the next week.
“It’s not surprising to me that the airlines are anticipating that this might be a record passenger year,” said Todd Yeary.
Yeary is a retired air traffic controller with 13 years of experience.
When asked if the airlines were prepared for the number of travelers a little more than a week after the FAA lifted the flight restrictions due to the shutdown, Yeary said, “I think the airlines have done a good job of getting equipment and crews in position to resolve the reduction, which was quite honestly a modest reduction.”
The transition hasn’t been smooth.
“Oh wow, like they changed my gate like five times. So it was crazy busy,” said Greene.
Brian Jones from Lewisburg said their flight changed twice before he was able to return home.
“We were supposed to be Oklahoma City to Charlotte, then it changed from Oklahoma City to Dallas. So we took that flight, got to Dallas, then we were delayed again, no more flights to Dayton,” said Jones.
Jones said that he is glad to be home.
But through it all, there is joy in reaching the end destination as millions began moving this Thanksgiving week.
“They’ll probably convince me to cook, add to it. But, hey, I raised them to cook. So I’m going to enjoy watching them cook and eating the fruits of my labor,” said Ward.
Dayton International Airport officials said they don’t have an official number of seats sold yet, but based on the capacity of the flights leaving Dayton, they expect the capacity to up 12 percent compared to Thanksgiving last year.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]