SEATAC, Wash. — Travel is expected to reach record levels at SEA this weekend.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) could see a lot of the volume, since airport officials are estimating nearly a million passengers will cycle in and out of that airport this weekend.
The busiest days for travel this weekend, according to officials with SEA, will be Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.
Russ Dzingle, a Washington resident traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, admitted things appeared to be picking up early Thursday morning at SEA.
“It looks pretty crowded to me,” said Dzingle.
Ausha Potts, from the Seattle area, agreed, “Take a look around, all the people are out and about.”
Eileen Casler is traveling to Denver and thinks the trend of more people flying isn’t just for the 4th of July weekend.
“I would say I’ve traveled a bit in the last couple of months, and I do feel like it’s come back,” she said.
SEA may not look as busy as it does around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but don’t be fooled, airport officials say that over the next few days, all the people lined up here are going to add to record numbers. Airport officials estimate about 900k passengers will make their way through this airport over the holiday weekend.
Dzingle has one theory on why people are opting to fly, and it is all about stretching that dollar.
“People are spending money still, and it’s the safest way to get around, and with gas prices, I think people kinda just look at it like we’re gonna get there and we’d rather get there right away,” he said.
That 900,000 figure floated by airport officials will tally up to a 6% increase in passenger volume compared to 2024.
Sunday, July 6th, could be the potential record breaker, with an estimated 199,000 passengers in and out of the airport.
“People are just feeling, like the need to get out and about more. I feel like the energy is vibrant and people just want to get out,” said Potts.
SEA has already broken one record for outbound travelers — 199,000 travelers on June 22.
Casler, however, isn’t sure gas prices are driving people to fly more.
“Flying is expensive too… what I’m looking for is a break from all of the heaviness," said Casler.
In the last few months, SEA has added new routes both overseas and domestic, which means more travel options, and some people are taking advantage of jetting out of SEA.
Here are the statistics released by Seattle-Tacoma Airport:
SEA Airport passenger volumes update for the holiday period Thursday, 7/3 – Monday, 7/7:
- SEA Airport is forecasting about 900,000 travelers to go through the airport over the holiday period from Thursday, July 3, through Monday, July 7 [that’s arriving, departing, and connecting].
- This represents about a 6% increase from the same period in 2024.
- Sunday, July 6, could come close to a new single-day record for passengers at SEA.
- Forecasted overall passenger levels for the period:
- Thursday, 7/3 @ 190,000
- Friday, 7/4 @140,000
- Saturday, 7/5 @ 176,000
- Sunday, 7/6 @ 199,000
- Monday, 7/7 @ 195,000
- Already in the last few weeks, the single-day record at SEA has been surpassed with six additional days in June moving into the Top 10.
- Sunday, June 22, hit a new passenger volume record for outbound travelers through the security checkpoint with 75,429 (or about 199,000 overall passengers). This exceeded the previous records set last summer on August 18th (75,410) and 11th (75,407) – each about 198,000 overall passengers.
- In addition, five other dates in June are now in the Top 10 for passenger volume outbound through the security checkpoint (6/23, 6/19, 6/27, 6/15, and 6/26).
Additional Notes:
- SEA opened the new Checkpoint 1 in June for an additional 5 lanes. That’s in addition to two additional lanes added last summer to each of Checkpoint 3 and Checkpoint 4. Later this year, Checkpoint 6 (on the north end of the terminal as part of the SEA Gateway project) is scheduled to open an additional 6 lanes.
©2025 Cox Media Group
