Traffic at Rick Husband Airport expected to be high over holiday weekend

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Memorial Day weekend is impacting air travel across the country and at the Rick Husband International Airport

The Transportation Security Administration says they’re prepared for passengers at airport security checkpoints nationwide as summer travel season begins today.

The TSA is forecasting today to be the busiest day for the long weekend with 2.6 million travelers.

The airlines at Rick Husband are saying today will be busy.

“We’ve seen year over year that passenger traffic is going up,” said Tyler Hurst, Deputy Director of Aviation at Rick Husband International Airport. “Obviously holidays have a lot to do with that.”

Friday morning is anticipated to be the busiest travel time, for the rest of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday levels will remain busy but look more like normal traffic.

Hurst has a few tips for travelers on the holiday weekend, “Arrive here, especially in the morning time, which is one of our busiest times of the day, about two hours early, if you have any issues contact the airline that you’re flying on.”

Because of the added traffic, TSA at the Amarillo airport has extra staff to keep both checkpoint lanes open along with equipment that screens checked baggage all weekend.

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