Almost 1.9 million Arizonans will travel between Friday and Jan. 2, AAA Arizona predicts.
Thirty-seven percent of those travelers will be flying to their final destination. That is a 9 percent increase from last year.
“The holiday period is technically one day less because of the way the holidays fall," AAA Arizona's Valerie Vinyard said. "Maybe that’s spurring more people to fly.”
Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Sundays this season, meaning those who get observed holidays off of work will have only four days of work in a 10-day span.
Vinyard said she thinks many Arizonans are taking those days off and heading to somewhere farther away than normal.
And those trips involve airplanes. Sixteen percent more flights than normal will head in and out of Tucson International Airport in the next 10 days.
Because of that increase, airport officials recommended passengers arrive at least 90 minutes before a flight.
“That should give you plenty of time to be able to get your parking situated, check in with your airline and get through security,” Tucson Airport Authority's Jessie Butler said.
Butler said Tucson's airport is at its busiest from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and noon to 3 p.m.
