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NEW YORK (AP) – The holiday travel rush hit its peak on Friday as mild weather and lower flight cancellation rates raised hopes for merrier drivers and airline passengers than last year.

United States (US) airlines are predicting a blockbuster holiday season and have projected confidence they can handle the crowds after hiring thousands of pilots, flight attendants and other workers, seeking to avoid the delays and suspensions that marred travel last year and culminated with the Southwest Airline debacle that stranded more than two million people.

Airlines have cancelled just 1.2 per cent of US flights so far this year, the lowest in five years, but bad weather is always a threat. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has warned the government will be holding the airlines accountable to operate smoothly and treat passengers well if there are disruptions. Earlier this week, Transportation Department announced a settlement in which Southwest will pay USD140 million for its meltdown last year.

Some 70 flights had been cancelled in the US by early Friday evening and about 3,480 had been delayed, according to FlightAware.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened more than 2.6 million passengers on Thursday, which had been projected to be one of the busiest travel days, along with Friday and New Year’s Day. That’s short of the record 2.9 million that agents screened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, since travel tends to be more spread over over Christmas and New Year’s.

People prepare to travel from Stuttgart’s main train station, Germany. PHOTO: AP

Travel has been strong this year – surpassing pre-pandemic levels – even though many Americans say they are worried about the economy.

The TSA has already screened 12.3 per cent more travellers than it had by this time last year and 1.4 per cent more than in 2019.

Robert Lake said he hoped taking a pre-dawn flight from Atlanta International Airport would help him beat the crowds on Friday but found the world’s busiest airport was already packed in the wee hours.

“It was very hectic. I got to my boarding area, like, maybe just minutes before the plane took off,” Lake said after arriving in Tampa to go to a cruise for the holidays. “I cut it way too close.”

Other travellers said they were pleasantly surprised at the ease of their trips despite the crowds.

“Super easy. We had a great flight. No issues so far,” said Kendall Black, who flew from Houston to Chicago O’Hare International Airport with her spouse and three-year-old daughter to visit her sister. Auto club AAA forecasts that 115 million people in the US will go 50 miles or more from home between yesterday and New Year’s Day. That’s up two per cent over last year.

The busiest days on the road was yesterday and next Thursday, December 28, according to transportation data provider INRIX.

Inflation has cooled off a bit, and travellers were helped by lower average gas prices and air fares. The nationwide gas price average on Friday was USD3.13 a gallon, down 15 cents from a month ago and about three cents more than this time last year, according to AAA. Average fares in October were 13 per cent lower than a year earlier, according to the government’s latest data. Internationally, air travel has also rebounded, though it remains below pre-pandemic levels. Airlines have sold 31 per cent more tickets for international arrivals to global destinations between December 21 and 31 compared to the similar period last year, according to travel data firm FowardKeys.

Some travellers in northern Europe had a run of bad luck with bad weather and labour unrest.

A storm brought heavy rain and strong winds across northern Europe overnight and into Friday, bringing down trees and prompting warnings of flooding on the North Sea coast. Workers at the undersea tunnel between Britain and France held a surprise strike on Thursday, forcing the cancellation of passenger and vehicle-carrying service before an agreement with unions was reached.

Eurostar, which operates passenger train services from London to continental Europe, said services resumed on Friday and it will run six extra trains between Paris and London into the weekend.

In the US, AccuWeather forecasters said that Pacific storm that pounded parts of Southern California on Thursday will merge with another storm in the Northwest and produce a major snowstorm in the Rockies. AccuWeather warned travellers to watch for possible flight cancellations and delays in Denver over the weekend.

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