TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — According to AAA, 2022 is expected to be the third busiest year for holiday travel since AAA began tracking in 2000.
An estimated 12.7 million people will travel 50 miles or more away from home from now until Jan. 2. That’s an increase of 3.6 million people over the last year. Tucson International Airport expects to see its busiest travel day of 2022 during the next two weeks, especially the day before Christmas Eve.
TUS is preparing for more than 210,000 holiday travelers to go through the terminal now until Jan. 2. This is a 25% increase compared to the holiday passengers we saw last year. Airlines serving Tucson are geared up and prepared to meet the demand with 24% increased seat capacity also.
Expect your flight to be full, even on slower travel days. Airlines have scheduled fewer flights on slower travel days so there may be fewer people in the airport terminal but not on your flight.
"Although it’s going to be very busy in the Tucson airport, we are equipped to handle a lot of customers and we can do so comfortably this holiday season. We have some amazing concessions in the airport and we are ready to welcome the holiday travelers," said Austin Wright, Chief Communications Officer at TUS.
Tucson Airport officials say tickets are selling more rapidly than they did at Thanksgiving. With increased demand that means fares are higher so don’t wait much longer to buy a ticket, before it’s gone.
For more information on what you need to know before you go, visit TUS's website.
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Brooke Chau is a reporter for KGUN 9. She was a part of Fresno State's newscast, Fresno State Focus and interned at KFSN-ABC30 in Fresno, CA before coming to KGUN 9. Share your story ideas and important issues with Brooke by emailing brooke.chau@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
