More than 18 million Americans will travel by plane this Thanksgiving

Traveling on Türkiye Day? Be sure to set aside some extra time.

This Thanksgiving is expected to be the busiest ever for air travel, with a record-setting 18 million Americans expected to jet off to celebrate their holiday in the coming days.

“This will be the busiest Thanksgiving ever for air travel,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Fortunately, our staffing is also at an all-time high. We are ready.”

TSA expects 3 million people to pass through airport security checkpoints on Sunday, with Tuesday and Wednesday being the second-busiest days.

While Peroske says the TSA is gearing up to keep security lines under 30 minutes, other forces like the Federal Aviation Administration are short staffed, airport workers are on strike, and possible stormy weather There may be other plans.

A continued shortage of air traffic controllers could cause delays at some airports, although FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said his agency would take special measures to address any staffing problems.

“If we are short on staff, we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe,” he said.

Another disruption that could thwart Thanksgiving travel is a strike that began Monday among service workers at North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport demanding increased wages.

The country’s ninth busiest airport expects to handle about 1 million passengers from last Thursday to next Monday.

New Yorkers may also face their own unique travel problems as they try to catch flights this Thanksgiving week due to construction at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

port Authority officials are requesting As many as 1.34 million passengers are expected to fly from JFK next week amid a $19 billion redevelopment project of the airport so they can avoid driving directly to airport terminals and instead opt for public transportation.

“We want our customers to spend as much time as possible with family and friends this Thanksgiving holiday and spend as little time as possible in construction-related traffic at JFK,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole.

“Leave extra time, use public transportation, pre-book parking if you must drive to JFK, and visit our website for the latest travel advice before leaving for the airport.”

Despite the potential glitch, most U.S. flights were operating as scheduled Monday, with fewer than 40 canceled but more than 1,600 delayed by the afternoon, according to FlightAware.

Holiday travel ran relatively smoothly last year due to favorable weather conditions – and many airports and travel authorities are hoping for a repeat of that this holiday season.

Last year, fewer than 400 U.S. flights were canceled during Thanksgiving week. It is expected that the situation will remain the same this year too, as only 1.3% of flights have been canceled so far this week.

With post wires.