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One Million Travelers Head Out Of D.C. For Thanksgiving

By: Armando Trull // November 23, 2011
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Thanksgiving is one of the peak travel times for people in the D.C. area, and more people will be traveling this year than in the previous three years, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Airline travel is expected to increase 1.4 percent over last year, and overall travel is expected to be up 4 percent. More than 1 million Washingtonians heading out traveling out of town, and 92 percent of them will be on the highways, according to AAA's Lon Anderson.

"This airport is going to have one of its busiest travel days of the year later today," says Anderson, who is on hand for the early part of the day at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Virginia. More than 900,000 people are expected to take to the roads for the holiday, which will likely make for slow travel later today.

The increases in holiday travel come despite airline fares that are up about 20 percent from last year, and gas prices are up  50-55 cents per gallon.

"I think what that's telling us is we've got some pent-up demand," says Anderson. "We've seen some improvement in the economy this year, and I think it's been enough that people are saying, 'I've had it with staying home on the holidays, we're going to travel this year.'" 

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