PHL expecting Thanksgiving-level volume for Labor Day holiday

Philadelphia International Airport expects flight volume leading up to the Labor Day weekend to rival the busiest travel week of the year.

The airport’s Heather Redfern said between now and Tuesday, September 3, crowds at PHL will be similar to Thanksgiving-level travel.

“This has been our busiest summer since 2019, and Labor Day is keeping up with that trend,” she said. “We’re predicting almost 814,000 passengers to fly through the airport and through the Labor Day holiday and a couple of those days were projecting well over 100,000 passengers.”

The highest travel days are expected to be Thursday and Friday, August 29 and 30, with 110,000 and 116,000 passengers traveling, respectively. Labor Day and Tuesday, September 3, are expected to fall close behind with 92,000 and 81,000 flyers using the facility.

Redfern said because of the volume, they are amending the standard pre-flight time recommendations.

“Definitely give yourself more time. Two hours is the standard for domestic flights, three hours for international flights. You might want to give yourself a little bit more time,” she said. “All the checkpoints will be open and if you’re already pre-checked into your flight, you can go through any checkpoint. You don’t have you don’t have to go in through the checkpoint where your gate is.”

The hours of operation for TSA checkpoints and their locations are listed on the airport’s website.

Redfern says the increase in travel this week can likely be attributed to travelers taking one final summer vacation plus students traveling to out-of-state colleges and universities.