Syracuse, New York – November 16, 2023 –The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) expects historic levels of travelers to pass through Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) this Thanksgiving travel season. Defined as the 12-day period of Friday, November 17^th through Tuesday, November 28^th, the Thanksgiving travel stretch is expected to feature over 58,000 passengers boarding flights at SYR – a nearly 8% increase over the same time period in 2022. In 2022, traffic levels at SYR rebounded to within 2% of all-time record levels, making this year’s forecast historic.

At the national level, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects the three busiest travel days to be Sunday, November 26^th, Wednesday, November 22^nd, and Tuesday, November 21^st, respectively. Locally, Sunday, November 26^th, Sunday, November 19^th, and Friday, November 17^th are forecasted to see the most departing passengers with each of those days featuring between 5,300 and 6,000 travelers boarding flights in Syracuse.

“The SRAA and our airport partners will be ready to welcome a record number of passengers at the airport,” said SRAA Executive Director Jason Terreri. “Whether you are flying out to visit family and friends, or arriving to spend time in Central New York, expect the airport to be busy. Our team will be ready, and we are asking that passengers plan extra time for parking, check-in and to clear our TSA security checkpoint. This will help ensure your travel experience through SYR goes as smoothly as possible.”

New this year, the TSA security checkpoint now opens at 3:30 am to better accommodate the early “bank” – or cluster of flights departing SYR. Travelers are strongly encouraged to arrive to the airport two hours prior to their scheduled departure, and it is imperative to do so during the busy departure banks of 4:00 am – 6:00 am, 10:00 am – noon, and 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm.

For those who haven’t pre-booked their parking, travelers who intend to seek day-of, drive-up parking should monitor its availability on the airport’s parking webpage. Since Thanksgiving 2022, in the airport authority’s continued efforts to accommodate increased parking demand, approximately 1,000 new parking spaces have been commissioned and become fully operational in the new airport’s new Economy Lot.

Travelers are encouraged to download their airline’s mobile app to receive rapid updates on the status of their flight and make changes in the event of delays or cancellations.

Central New York travelers can fly directly to 30 destinations via nonstop flights with nine airlines now operating regularly scheduled flights at SYR.