Turkey Day journey rush at SEA Airport in full swing, may very well be busiest interval in 15 years

SEATTLE — Travel is busy this week: the FAA says it may very well be the busiest Thanksgiving journey interval in 15 years.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 170,000 persons are anticipated to take off or land on the Wednesday earlier than Thanksgiving alone. That quantity goes as much as 180,000 on the Sunday after the vacation.

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Overall, Thanksgiving journey by way of SEA this yr is anticipated to prime 2024 by 1%; from Wednesday, Nov. 26 to Monday, Dec. 1, simply over 900,000 vacationers will cross by way of.

The busy vacation interval comes simply as a brand new safety checkpoint opened on the airport.

Also simply in time: the Olympic Pipeline partially reopened simply earlier than the Wednesday rush, after greater than per week of it being shut down.

That pipeline is partially accountable for getting gasoline to the airport, and its shutdown sparked anxiousness amongst vacationers and airways about attainable flight delays and cancellations.

During the shutdown, Alaska Airlines and Delta each had long-haul home flights make preventative refueling stops. However, as of Tuesday, each airways stated they may not be doing that now that gasoline is flowing once more.

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For some vacationers, the pipeline was the most important stressor; others have been extra fearful that the federal government shutdown, now over, would have lasting impacts.

Thankfully, the FAA says air journey is totally again to regular now.

The airport will even offer 90-minute free normal parking for pick-up and drop-off till Nov. 30 and once more from Dec. 22-28 from 7 p.m. to midnight in an effort to assist cut back congestion.