Expect a Big Holiday-Season Traffic Surge at These 15 American Airports

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Luxury Link.

This holiday season, millions of travelers will pack their bags and head to the skies, making this one of the busiest times of the year for air travel.

Airports across the United States experience a significant surge in passenger traffic, with some hubs seeing more dramatic increases than others.

Whether travelers are visiting family, heading for a vacation, or flying for business, the peak holiday season creates a challenge for both airports and airlines to manage the spike in demand.

Holiday air traffic patterns vary significantly across different states, with some regions experiencing far greater surges in daily passenger throughput than others.

The following analysis was conducted by Luxury Link — an online booking platform specializing in luxury travel — using data from the TSA to find the airports that are busiest during the holidays. For more detailed information, see the methodology section at the end.

Here are the airports with the biggest traffic surges this holiday season.

15. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)

• Location: Detroit, MI
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +5.1%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 37,456
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 35,632
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 36,902
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 37,813

14. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)

• Location: Honolulu, HI
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +5.2%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 28,143
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 26,754
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 25,122
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 30,085

13. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport/Wold-Chamberlain Field (MSP)

• Location: Minneapolis, MN
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +5.4%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 40,339
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 38,288
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 38,050
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 41,811

12. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH)

• Location: Houston, TX
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +5.6%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 53,269
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 50,440
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 52,856
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 53,535

11. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

• Location: Los Angeles, CA
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +5.8%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 105,143
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 99,337
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 103,478
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 106,214

10. San Diego International Airport (SAN)

• Location: San Diego, CA
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +6.1%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 38,388
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 36,179
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 39,326
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 37,785

9. Denver International Airport (DEN)

• Location: Denver, CO
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +6.4%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 69,361
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 65,184
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 68,315
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 70,034

8. Orlando International Airport (MCO)

• Location: Orlando, FL
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +6.9%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 82,247
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 76,945
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 80,168
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 83,583

7. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +7.7%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 72,053
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 66,931
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 70,466
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 73,074

6. Miami International Airport (MIA)

• Location: Miami, FL
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +7.8%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 76,912
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 71,361
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 72,533
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 79,726

5. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

• Location: Newark, NJ
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +8.2%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 73,710
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 68,127
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 70,705
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 75,642

4. LaGuardia Airport (LGA)

• Location: New York, NY
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +8.6%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 45,639
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 42,021
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 49,930
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 42,880

3. Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

• Location: Dulles, VA
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +9.4%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 34,831
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 31,826
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 33,360
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 35,776

2. Tampa International Airport (TPA)

• Location: Tampa, FL
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +10.2%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 37,950
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 34,436
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 38,650
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 37,500

1. Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)

• Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Change in daily passenger traffic during the holiday season: +17.3%
• Average daily passenger traffic (holiday season): 56,226
• Average daily passenger traffic (non-holiday season): 47,930
• Average daily passenger traffic (Thanksgiving holiday): 53,534
• Average daily passenger traffic (Winter holidays): 57,956

Methodology

The data in this analysis come from the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) FOIA Electronic Reading Room. Researchers ranked airports and states by the percentage change in the daily passenger traffic during the 2024 holiday season compared to the rest of the year.

For the purposes of this analysis, the holiday season was aligned to national flight traffic trends and considered to be the Thanksgiving holiday — the Friday prior to Thanksgiving through the Monday after — and the winter holiday period — the Friday before Christmas through January 2 of the next year.

Only airports with daily operations during the holiday periods were included in the final airport lists, and each airport’s average daily passenger traffic for the rest of the year excluded days without operations.

As a result, the statistics reflect average passenger volumes on days when flights occurred, providing a more accurate representation of typical airport activity.