However, the numbers remained far below 2019 levels, as airlines continue to burn cash amid the drop in demand.
Despite the uptick in travel over the holiday period, however, the larger picture remains bleak for airlines in the US and globally. The overall number of travelers published by the TSA represents the total distributed across the nation's commercial airlines.that the airline expected to fly just 600,000 passengers over the July 4 holiday weekend, compared to 3.2 million passengers last year — an 80% reduction. An American Airlines spokesperson told Business Insider that it was the airline's busiest weekend since March. since mid-April, when the total hit a low of just over 87,000.
Airlines in the US and globally have been decimated by the collapse of travel demand, particularly of business travel. Even as some corporate travel bans are lifted and certain unavoidable business travel resumes, such as that within the manufacturing sector, demand is expected to take 3-5 years to fully recover across the industry.