NORFOLK, Va. — If you’re planning to travel today for Labor Day weekend, get ready for some crowds.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said they expect 14 million passengers to pass through airports this weekend, with Friday marking the busiest day.
Airport leaders at Norfolk International Airport (ORF) said they're expecting thousands to pass through.
To kick off Labor Day weekend, ORF was crowded Friday with people taking one last trip this summer.
"We’re on a trip to Michigan to see East Carolina play University of Michigan. Go Pirates!" said Tommy Evans from Manteo, NC.
Charlie Braden, Associate VP of Market Development with ORF, said they estimated 20,000 people passing through just Friday.
"It’s going to be a big weekend," he said.
He said by Wednesday, when things start to get back to normal, they believe they will have seen about 100,000 people.
"We are up 5% versus this same Friday last year, so the traffic has been increasing a lot," he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration projects Labor Day weekend will be the third busiest travel weekend of the year.
TSA said it expects an 11% increase in passengers this Labor Day weekend compared to last year.
"This is sort of your last hurrah for a vacation. After today, people start to get back to business, going back to school. It dips down in September and it starts to increase as it starts to head towards the holidays," said Braden.
Evans and his wife said until they had a mechanical delay, things were running smoothly for them.
"We had easy parking. The airport is easy in easy out, traffic was pretty light. Check-in was a breeze," he said. "We’ll still make our destination, somewhat late, but we’ll still be there."
He said they were thinking ahead to the possible crowds when it came to their return flight.
"I didn’t want to come back on Labor Day, so we’re going to kind of rush back on Sunday, hopefully beating the crowd," Evans said.
Braden said they’ve only seen minor delays and a couple of cancellations today, but nothing out of the ordinary. He said he hopes that holds through the weekend.