El Paso airport gears up for busiest travel day this Thanksgiving

Many El Pasoans are hitting the road for Thanksgiving.

Officials at the El Paso International Airport said they expect this holiday to be the busiest day of travel.

Some El Pasoans CBS4 spoke with said this was their first time traveling for the holiday.

Just as people are making their way out of El Paso, some are coming into the borderland to spend time with their families, and even though they often travel for the holiday, they are still prepared.

"We made sure we got to the airport early that way we wouldn't be rushing cause you know normally the lines are crazy," one couple said.

The airport expects to see around 85,000 people traveling on Thanksgiving weekend.

That's a 9% increase in travel compared to 2022, and a 19% increase compared to 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic brought traveling to a screeching halt.

Other El Pasoans are trying something new this year.

"This is the first Thanksgiving game, we've done Christmas but then not Thanksgiving, this is the first Thanksgiving in Dallas," a nurse said.

She's saying goodbye to Thanksgiving dinner since her family will be at the Cowboys game, "We are just going to wing it, hopefully, they have a turkey leg at the stadium and that will be the closest to turkey that we'll get.”

Another El Pasoan said she was traveling out of El Paso for the first time to see family.

"My dad, he wants to see us 'cause he's not going to be able to see us for Christmas, so he wants us to come there to see him," said Nicole Duarte who's traveling to Ontario, California.

Despite people trickling in and out of the airport, people traveling said the place has been crowded throughout the day.

"It was a full plane, the restaurants were packed at the airport, but overall like the process was pretty smooth. There is traffic and then I couldn't really find parking in the long-term parking lot so we had to park pretty far and we couldn't find the shuttle so we had to like walk a long distance," Duarte said.

But one thing most travelers have on their minds is the Thanksgiving feast they will enjoy this holiday.

"Eat a lot of food, especially here," one El Pasoan said.

Airport officials said they expect Sunday to be another busy travel day.

Travelers are aware of the traffic and are thinking of ways to save travel time.

Some travelers said they are making extra room for their flights back home by only traveling with carry-ons, hoping this will save them travel time.

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