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Record-breaking number of travelers expected to fly for Thanksgiving

TSA predicts nearly 27 million people will travel by plane during the Thanksgiving holiday.

NORFOLK, Va. — Across the country, a record number of travelers will travel by plane this Thanksgiving holiday.

On Wednesday, Cathy Wright embraced her son, Brayton Wright, after he landed into Norfolk International Airport from Boston.

“I’m excited. It's been a long time since he's been here,” said Cathy.

He’s one of millions who will travel during the Thanksgiving holiday.

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According to Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the number of passengers expected to fly this Thanksgiving holiday is predicted to be record-breaking.

Farbstein said more than 26.8 million passengers and crew members will travel through security screening checkpoints nationwide between Nov. 22nd and Dec. 2nd. That’s a 4 percent increase from the amount of people who traveled during the holiday last year.

Despite the increase in the number of travelers, the day before Thanksgiving was a smooth travel day at Norfolk International.

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Airport officials said flight operations ran smoothly throughout the day.

Susan Davidson and her family were happy travelers as they waited to board their plane to visit loved ones in Massachusetts.

“Trying to get here was difficult, but it was really easy to check in our luggage. Now we're all set to go,” said Davidson.

There weren’t any reports of flight cancellations out of the airport, and a majority of scheduled flights left on time.

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