NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, Nashville International Airport is breaking records with 18.4 million passengers by the end of its fiscal year. That is up 7% from the last record set in 2019, according to BNA.
But as people are set to take to the sky in and out of Nashville this weekend, CBS News reports on Thursday, there were nearly 6,000 delays and 670 cancellations across the country.
According to AAA, while most people will be driving there will still be about 4% of people flying for the holiday here in Tennessee.
"While all modes of transportation are forecast to be stronger than last year, the biggest surprise is auto travel. Despite record-high gas prices, AAA forecasts over 945,000 Tennesseans will take a holiday road trip — the most on record, dating back to 2001," AAA said.
AAA said that air travel is expected to be nearly 2% stronger than last year, but the number of domestic travelers is expected to still be below pre-pandemic levels. The association chalks it up to most likely being the recent delays and cancellations we have seen with flying.
Just a few days ago a record number of people were screened at BNA, with more than 30,000 travelers. May also saw the largest number of departing passengers for BNA, coming in at a little over 840,000 for the month.
Despite all these numbers, there could be significant trouble coming down the pipeline.
"If just 5% of the seats are not provided over the Fourth of July holiday... airlines will likely not be able to re-accommodate passengers on flights the same or next day," a study from DePaul University said.
For perspective, on Sunday and Monday, about 4% of flights were canceled across the four major airlines, according to the study.
