AUSTIN, Texas — Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) broke a new passenger volume record on Friday for the second-busiest day ever, with 37,192 departing passengers.
AUS said it was the first time a Fourth of July travel date has seen such high numbers and the first time Fourth of July travel has broken a top five busy day record.
The previous second busiest day record was this year’s Friday before South By Southwest with 36,841.
In an update on Sunday, AUS said the Blue Garage and Economy Parking were full. Space was still available in the Red Garage and Red Garage Overflow.
As the airport continues to set records every month and year, the amount of people coming in and out is only going up.
Officials with AUS said last summer, around 7.7 million passengers traveled through between May and August.
Meanwhile, AAA is expecting 3.8 million Texans to travel 50 miles or more from home this Independence Day weekend, which would set a record for the holiday.
That figure would be 5% higher than in 2022 and 7% higher than 2019, which was not only pre-pandemic but also when the previous record was set.
AAA said air travel is seeing large growth this year, despite ticket prices being over 40% to 50% higher to many of the top destinations.
Elizabeth Ferrer, a spokesperson for the Austin airport, said people traveling this weekend should try to get to the airport a minimum of two-and-a-half hours early for domestic flights and three hours for international.
Ferrer said that's not just because of what can happen with the ticket counter or getting through TSA, but also because of all the different types of travelers who will be going through the airport this weekend.