More than 1 million people flew through U.S. domestic airports, the second-highest total since the pandemic hit

More than 1 million people flew through U.S. domestic airports on Friday 20 November, the second-highest daily total since the coronavirus pandemic hit last spring, even as officials warn against travel around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Airline passengers still lag substantially behind normal levels, but data posted by the Transportation Security Administration show that at least some people are bucking suggestions they stay home in light of the rapid growth in Covid-19 infections.

A total of 1,019,836 people passed through U.S. airport security screening portals on Friday, 40% of the nearly 2.6 million who flew on the equivalent day last year, according to TSA data.

Since passenger counts plummeted from mid-March, only Oct. 18 had more people boarding flights. Friday’s total was well above the one-week average of 829,000 passengers a day.