The number of Americans getting on airplanes
has sunk to a level not seen in more than 60
years as people shelter in their homes to avoid
catching or spreading the new coronavirus.
The Transportation Security Administration
screened fewer than 100,000 people on Tuesday,
a drop of 95% from a year ago.
The official tally of 97,130 people who passed
through TSA checkpoints exaggerates the
number of travelers – if that is possible –
because it includes some airline crew members
and people still working at shops inside airport
security perimeters.
Historical daily numbers only go back so far,
but the nation averaged 97,000 passengers a
day in 1954, according to figures from trade
group Airlines for America. It was the dawn of
the jet age. The de Havilland Comet, the first
commercial jetliner, was just a few years old, and
Boeing was running test flights with the jet that
would become the iconic 707.