Bay Area Airports Brace for Record-Breaking Travel Numbers This Holiday Season

Days after the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, San Francisco and Oakland’s airports are gearing up for record-breaking travel numbers over the holiday season.

Nearly 82 million Americans are projected to travel at least 50 miles over Thanksgiving, according to data gathered from AAA. That includes around 11 million Californians — about 300,000 more than last year.

While 90% of U.S. travelers will go by car, Bay Area airports are bracing for packed terminals, with San Francisco International Airport projecting 6.3 million passengers between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Doug Johnson, spokesperson from AAA Northern California, attributed the eye-popping numbers to loosening COVID travel restrictions.

“People are just more confident to travel now, people want to go see their relatives and they’re taking advantage of the time off work to go do it.”

On Friday morning, Oakland International Airport was bustling yet calm this morning — the first hours of an especially busy stretch that will end on Nov. 30. The airport is expecting nearly a quarter of a million passengers to pass through in the next nine days, according to Kaley Skantz, a spokesperson for OAK.

Norlan Rosales Ramos, who had his first shift as a wheelchair services employee at OAK, said the airport upped staffing for the influx of passengers — with extra pay for employees who work on holidays.

“I’m not nervous, I’m just excited about how busy it’s going to get,” Rosales Ramos said.

On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration lifted the emergency order limiting flights and restricting U.S. airspace was lifted on Sunday, after Congress passed the funding bill that ended the government shutdown. While OAK dodged the worst of the government shutdown chaos, Skantz said passengers flying on peak days should plan ahead.

“We do expect our terminals to be very busy,” Skantz said.“We highly recommend that passengers arrive early — at least two hours prior to departure for domestic travel and three hours prior for international travel.”