Skift Take

Buckle up. AAA expects a major weekend for air travel and especially road trips this Memorial Day.

Elizabeth Casolo

A forecast from AAA estimates Memorial Day weekend travel will be up from last year with boosts in travelers across modes of transportation — but still shy of the all-time record set in 2005.

AAA expects almost 44 million travelers from Thursday, May 23, to Monday, May 27. That marks one million more travelers than in 2019, the year before the pandemic. 

“We're going to start seeing heavy loads for the holiday weekend, as well as the summertime,” said Paula Twidale, AAA’s SVP of travel.

How Travelers Arrive

This year will be big for road trips: AAA projects 38.4 million people will travel by car, up 1.9% from the 2019 holiday weekend and the h