Air travel will be interesting this holiday weekend, DePaul expert warns

A canceled flight is seen on a departures board at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on July 1, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. Hundreds of flights were canceled across the US ahead of July Fourth weekend. Photo credit (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

By WBBM Newsradio Staff Report

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Be patient, and expect the unexpected. That's the advice from an airline industry expert this Fourth of July weekend.

DePaul University Transportation Professor Joe Schwieterman says he's been tracking the number of people screened at TSA checkpoints at airports — a number that has been going up in recent days.

"It shows this really big surge that happened about four or five days ago. Not only will airports be busy, as they usually are, they’re going to be unusually busy given the fact that it's a popular holiday," Schwieterman told the Noon Business Hour on Friday.

Airlines and airports are struggling to re-hire workers in the wake of pandemic furloughs. He said nearly pre-pandemic crowds are meeting a smaller workforce and slimmed-down airline schedules.

"That's just more people than airlines have handled on any single long weekend, so cancellations just ripple through the system with those kinds of numbers," Schwieterman said.