What to expect at the airport and on the roads this holiday season
“It’s a lot of pent-up demand,” said Ragina Cooper Ali of AAA Mid-Atlantic. “People are returning back to travel in a big way.”
AAA Mid-Atlantic predicts 2.8 million people in the D.C. metro area who are traveling 50 miles or more will be driving.
That number is a 3% increase over 2022, and the second highest travel to 2019, when the number exceeded 2.9 million.
What to expect on the roads
The vast majority of travelers, 98%, will be driving to their destinations — but WTOP traffic reporters believe traffic will not be particularly horrible as people head out of town.
“Because we’re talking about such a long period of time, all these people are going to be traveling different days, different times,” said WTOP traffic reporter Reada Kessler.
While traffic is impossible to predict, historical trends suggest travel may be staggered, with some holiday travelers having already departed last week, continuing all the way until Christmas Eve on Sunday.
“But after Christmas, and up to New Year’s, traffic is light everywhere. We don’t really see much of a rush hour in any direction,” Kessler said.
“While air travel ticks up, traffic numbers are rather unimpressive,” said WTOP traffic reporter Dave Dildine, who added that the day that tends to be one of the busiest on the roads — two Fridays before the holiday — has already passed.
Naturally, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is one of the quietest of the calendar year.
Major routes out of town like Interstate 95 South and North, and Interstate 270, will see the most congestion.
“Traffic on I-95 can be a little heavier during the daytime in the leadup to Christmas and, of course, there will be local traffic congestion near shopping centers,” Dildine said.
If you want to avoid most slowdowns, leave home early in the morning or late at night.
What to expect at the airport
While the roads may not be overly busy, the airports likely will be. AAA predicts 163,000 people in the metro area will be flying from D.C.-area airports.
Nationally, the airports will be the busiest they’ve ever been, with more than 7.5 million Americans projected to fly.
According to the Transportation Security Administration, the busiest days are projected to be Thursday, Dec. 21, Friday, Dec. 29 and Monday, Jan. 1, with 2.5 million passengers on each one of those days, a 6% increase over last year.
Locally, United Airlines expects more than 870,000 people in and out of Dulles International Airport as part of their holiday season, a 10% increase over last year. They expect it to be the busiest holiday season for the airline ever.