AUSTIN, Texas —
On Monday, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) broke yet another record for the amount of people traveling in a single day.
This new record comes after a busy weekend with Formula 1 (F1) fans at the Circuit of the Americas track and soccer fans cheering on Austin FC throughout the city. A whopping 43,177 departed through the airport.
The last record, which was set last week, was more than 35,000 people in the airport. This new anticipated record means that travelers may see long lines and delays. Those that have a flight scheduled to leave the city on Oct. 24 are asked to give themselves extra time.
In anticipation of the big crowd, airport administration has been hiring more staff and are also planning to have more on hand to help with the crowds. Additionally, staff that don't normally interact with travelers were given extra training to assist with the influx of people expected and ticket counters were opened an hour earlier to allow for more people to move through the lines quicker.
“So, we're recommending to budget in about 2.5 hours to move through security. That's not to say it's going to take you two and a half hours, but what we don't want is people showing up and missing their flight by 10 minutes or five minutes, just barely missing that flight. So please give yourself plenty of time," explained ABIA Spokesperson Sam Haynes.
Airport administration added that they've requested Transport Security Administration to bring in more officers until the end of October. Due to the record-breaking number of travelers the airport witnessed last week, airport staff has been getting experience and adjusting to handling large crowds of travelers in one day.
"All these things that we've put in place, we have been able to stress-test them with Austin City Limits leading up to F1 and so far, things have been running smoothly. But if there's one thing that this year has taught us, it is to expect the unexpected and to just stay flexible," said Haynes.
A large amount of international travel are expected with F1 fans leaving Austin. Haynes added that those that are leaving the country should budget an additional hour than domestic travelers, increasing the time gap to three hours, to ensure they get on their flight.
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