MOLINE, Ill. — Travel experts are predicting a large turnout this year at U.S. airports.
According to AAA, over 270,000 Illinoisans are expected to travel by plane for Thanksgiving.
Locally, Quad Cities International Airport (MLI) said it already saw pre-pandemic numbers of travel in 2021, and expects a steady amount of travelers in the Thanksgiving week.
"Travel at the Quad Cities International Airport is still very much in demand - we're still seeing lots of full planes," Public Relations and Marketing Manager Ashleigh Davis said. "We are able to see how many seats are actually being purchased in our market, and we know that plenty people are flying out of the Quad Cities which is great."
That is despite travel costs going up: AAA said on average nationally, plane ticket prices are up 22% and hotels are up 17%.
Davis explained that increasing fuel costs and supply-demand issues are leading to higher ticket prices.
"Airlines are contending with a lot of pilot and crew shortages, which means they're not flying quite as many planes as they were back in 2019," Davis said. "There's fewer seats out in the market, which means they're going to come at a premium - and that's going to look like higher airfare."
She added that travelers could see increased prices for several years, as it takes time to train pilots and flight crews.
Quad Cities International Airport is hosting a pop-up registration for TSA PreCheck on Dec. 12-16.
More information on TSA PreCheck is available here.
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