This year’s Labor Day travel volume may be a sign of a big recovery in the travel industry, the U.S. Treasury secretary is set to deliver a speech on the economy at a Ford plant in Michigan, and Mercedes-Benz is about to cut thousands of jobs. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, September 7, 2022.
1st Gear: A Good Sign for Holiday Travel
A whole lot of people traveled this Labor Day. In fact, it was the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started that holiday travel surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
The agency said 8.76 million travelers went through its checkpoints between Friday September 2nd and Monday the 5th. That just squeaks past the number set during the same time period in 2019: 8.62 million. The TSA also says Friday was the busiest travel day, when nearly 2.5 million people went through airport security. From the Wall Street Journal:
While more people have been taking to the skies again during the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, air travel’s recovery has been troubled, with this summer being one of the most chaotic travel seasons in decades. Many travelers have faced flight cancellations or delays, long lines at airports and lost luggage as airlines contend with labor shortages and schedule changes.
Airline experts had recommended people flying over Labor Day weekend book nonstop flights and get to airports early to avoid potential headaches. But most travelers over the last long holiday of the summer fared pretty well, according to data from FlightAware. The flight-data provider said 0.6% of flights over the long weekend were canceled, while 16.6% of flights were delayed. Both measures were lower than they were during this year’s July 4th and Memorial Day weekends.
“The airlines really got it together,” said FlightAware spokeswoman Kathleen Bangs, a former airline pilot. She added that airlines had good weather and had already…