Thanksgiving holiday travel at Orlando International Airport is expected to reach 50 percent of its pre-pandemic levels.
More than 40,000 passengers are expected to depart from Orlando International Airport on half of the holiday travel days between Nov. 20 and Dec. 1.
The busiest day is expected to be Sunday Nov. 29 when some 44,347 passengers will take flights out of the airport.
Director of Customer Experience Brian Engle says families should come to the airport two hours early for domestic flights, three hours for international ones.
“Monday we had lines literally down the hall. When you see that they're like wow but in reality it was about an eighteen minute wait. But with that social distancing that's going to make it look worse."
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Engle says the airport requires social distancing at security checkpoints and has installed Plexiglas shields at counters. It has increased deep cleaning of these areas.
He says officials are also working on rolling out in-airport COVID-19 testing sometime in January.
“Yes, we’re actively pursuing that. And I think you’re going to see that as we roll forward into 2021, that you’re going to have some sort of testing at your departure airport, your arrival airport.”
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Engle says in the meantime, all passengers are encouraged to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
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