About 343,420 people are expected to fly in and out of the airport between Friday and Jan. 2, surpassing the 2019-2020 season’s total of 318,830 travelers.
This comes on the heels of the airport’s record-breaking Thanksgiving travel season and a two-year pandemic-induced slump. During the same period in 2020-2021, the airport had 150,956 travelers. In 2021-2022 there were just over 272,000 people.
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“We have had an improvement over 2019 of passenger volumes, so we anticipate that to continue throughout the entire holiday season,” Airport Director Jesus Saenz said. “We’re excited about everyone wanting to utilize the airport. Thus far, everything has gone smooth.”
Airport officials estimate the number of incoming and outgoing passengers by doubling the number of people who pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints because it tracks only the number of outbound travelers.
AAA Texas estimates that 8.9 million Texans will trek 50 miles or more away from home during the holiday season, which is 3 percent higher than last year but still 7 percent short of 2019.
About 8.3 million Texans are expected to drive to their destination. About 377,000 Texans will fly, which is 13 percent more than last year. Flights and airports will be packed this year, similar to pre-pandemic days, despite higher airline ticket prices, according to AAA Texas.
The San Antonio airport started seeing an increase in traffic around Dec. 16 when schools started releasing students for winter break, Saenz said. He expects Friday, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day to be some of the busiest days at the airport.
The spike likely means the airport will use many of its 1,000 overflow spaces, which were added across two surface lots ahead of Thanksgiving. Those two lots — in addition to the two garages and two economy surface lots — nearly filled up during the Thanksgiving holiday season.
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Though the next couple of days are expected to bring freezing temperatures, locally, the weather should not impact the airport. Still, Erin Rodriguez, the airport’s senior public information officer, said travelers should always check with their airlines to find out the status of their flights.
On Wednesday morning, only a few flights were delayed or canceled, and TSA lines took less than 10 minutes to move through.
Even so, weather was on the mind for some travelers making their way through the airport Wednesday morning.
Truck driver Emmanuel Perez, 37, was making his way back home to Laredo to spend Christmas with his wife and children. He said he had been wanting a warm Christmas. But, knowing that it will be cold this year, he just hopes the weather doesn’t end up being as bad as it was during Winter Storm Uri last year.
Stormy weather affected travel plans for mother Kristin Loch, 45, and her teen daughter, Isabella Schiesz, on Wednesday. The two were trying to get back home to Austin for the holidays after touring college campuses for Schiesz. Getting flights out of Colorado directly to Austin was a challenge, so they opted to head to San Antonio and have a loved one pick them up.
And the cold might keep Melissa Aguinaga-Culotta, 57, from camping with her family this holiday season, but she is still looking forward to cooking for everyone.
Aguinaga-Culotta was welcomed to town in baggage claim by her daughter, Teagan Aguinaga, 32, and 5-year-old granddaughter Katie Woodward, who was sporting an oversized cowboy hat.
This is Aguinaga-Culotta’s first time visiting San Antonio from Florida for Christmas; she typically comes to visit for New Year’s Eve instead.
“Can we do a sleepover and go to the movies?” Woodward asked her grandmother, who was kneeling down to greet her.
“Yes,” Aguinaga-Culotta said with a smile. “We’re going to do a sleepover and go to the movies, and we’re going to make cookies for Santa.”
megan.rodriguez@express-news.net