Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer travel season and Charlotte Douglas International Airport expects to be busy over the holiday as flyers take final summer adventures.
Passengers are strongly advised to book parking online at parkCLT.com and be inside the terminal at least two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international flight. Security wait times could reach up to 45 minutes during busy times.
From Thursday, Aug. 31 to Monday, Sept. 4 the Airport is expecting approximately 351,000 passengers to fly to, from and through CLT, a 6.4% increase from the 2022 Labor Day weekend.
The Airport is expecting increased travel demand in local traffic from 2022. CLT anticipates 150,000 passengers passing through TSA checkpoints compared to 129,000 from last year.
If a final summer trip is on your itinerary, Don’t Fly by the Seat of Your Pants.
The busy summer season represents a large portion of 2023 passenger volume as CLT is on track to break its 50.2 million passenger record set in 2019.
Mid-year numbers show from January through July 2023 the Airport served 30.3 million passengers, which is 13.7% higher from last year and up 4.6% from the 29.1 million who flew to, from and through Charlotte Douglas during that same period in 2019.
Passengers traveling abroad from January to July 2023 rose 32.2% over 2022 and a 13% increase from 2019.
CLT expects a full recovery from the pandemic in 2023, one year earlier than previously forecasted.