GREENVILLE, Wis. — Approximately 1.65 million Wisconsinites will travel at least 50 miles during the Thanksgiving holiday period which runs Tuesday, Nov. 25 to Monday, Dec. 1, according to AAA.
That will mark a 2% increase over last year, and could set a new record for Thanksgiving travel in Wisconsin.
Thanksgiving remains the busiest travel holiday of the year, according to the latest numbers by AAA. Nearly 82 Million Americans Projected to Travel over Thanksgiving.
In Wisconsin, AAA expects air travel to increase 3.6%, to more than 140,500 fliers.
(Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
The Appleton International Airport is expecting about 40,000 travelers to come and go during the week of Thanksgiving. Spectrum News found some people getting a head start. Jolanta Bies arrived on a flight from Michigan on Tuesday. She came to visit her mom in central Wisconsin.
“Today, travel was excellent. No delays, everything was smooth and awesome. TSA was so quick,” said Bies.
She’s expecting it to be a lot busier on her return trip.
“Coming back to Michigan on Sunday may be different after Thanksgiving,” she said. “But we’re glad to be here.”
Leaders of Appleton International Airport said they’re ready.
“We’re expecting a lot of traffic with holiday travelers and increases on all five of our airlines,” said Brittany Gudex, the air service and business development manager for Appleton International Airport.
(Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
On Tuesday, Gudex helped announce that Allegiant Air is adding a new nonstop flight from Appleton to Santa Ana, California starting May 20, 2026.
“We’re growing,” she said. “We have our new gates that are opening and open to the public, so we have the capacity to keep growing with the community.”
The uptick in air traffic comes just days after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted flight restrictions at 40 major airports around the country, that were tied to the now-ended government shutdown.
“With the restrictions being lifted, that does make things easier, and it should make things go faster,” she said. “These airlines are managed on a national level, so it isn’t something that’s in our control, and we stay in contact with our airlines every day.”
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