Portland Jetport sees surge in holiday travel, in a year that's already up, up and away

Photo / Jim Neuger Passengers are flocking this holiday season to Portland International Jetport, whose gate area is shown here on Nov. 3.

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By William Hall

Portland International Jetport expects Wednesday to be its busiest day for travel in a holiday season that already is busier than last year's.

Maine's largest airport has 75,412 passengers booked for flights between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3, according to a news release Tuesday. That total is 6.6% greater than the 70,774 seats reserved during the same period in 2023.

The number of arriving and departing flights at the Jetport is up too, increasing from 646 last year to 662.

The surge comes in a year that has seen other new highs for air travel in southern Maine.

In November, the Jetport recorded 153,790 passengers arriving or departing, according to its website. That was an 18% increase from the total in November 2022. Last month's passenger volume even edged out the total of 153,699 passengers for the same month in 2019, the busiest year in the Jetport's history.

In August, 279,971 passengers traveled through Portland International Jetport, its highest total ever during a single month.

Nationally, 2,907,378 people passed through checkpoints at U.S. airports on Nov. 26 — the most ever on a single day, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

That day, at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year to fly. Until 2023, a similar Sunday on Dec. 1, 2019, held the record, with 2,882,915 travelers, TSA records show.

But the all-time high was surpassed on June 30 this year, when airports screened 2,884,783 people. Now, as commercial air traffic reaches pre-pandemic heights, even that the record has been broken.