Tucson International serviced about 4,000 travelers day before Thanksgiving

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TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – The day before Thanksgiving is known to be the busiest day for air travel during Thanksgiving week, and this year is no different.

Though the CDC advises everyone to stay home, thousands still travel.

“You can’t stop seeing your family, you know? No matter what the guidelines say, ”said Daniel Felos, a traveler in Montana.

Felos visits his grandparents. He said he only gets to see her once a year and missing out on a homemade meal is not an option.

“You can protest, right – so why can’t you travel?” He added. “I can’t stop Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the holidays.”

And Felos is just one of many.

Cesar La Chica works out of state and has just returned from Nevada. He was happy to be with his family again today after three weeks.

“It’s always important to have the opportunity to travel and spend quality time with the family. You can be grateful for that, ”said La Chica.

As a frequent traveler, La Chica says he feels comfortable with the way things are done at airports.

“People do a pretty good job of keeping things going,” he said.

Although Tucson International Airport has rarely seen full flights this year, Vice President of Administration Dick Gruentzel said that has changed over the past two weekends, with flights approaching 70%.

“At this time of year we saw an average of about 45% of the traffic volume of last year,” said Grüntzel.

Today alone around 4,000 people traveled through TIA.

Grüntzel encouraged travelers to use the free COVID test points within the airports.

“You have between 200 and 300 people a day so I think it’s a good number,” he said.

The test site at TIA is located near baggage claim 5 and is open from Friday to Monday. Results can take up to 72 hours to complete.

Airport officials said approximately 80,000 people will be traveling through Tucson from November 21-30.

Copyright 2020 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

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