DENVER — The Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial kickoff to the summer travel season, and Denver International Airport said it expects record passenger traffic for the holiday weekend.
AAA is also forecasting near-record travel this weekend with more than 43 million people expected to travel more than 50 miles away from their homes. AAA said this holiday weekend is forecasted as the second-busiest Memorial Day travel weekend ever.
"The busiest Memorial Day holiday weekend in nearly two decades is set to kick off what will likely be a historically well-traveled summer," said AAA's Skyler McKinley. "Remember that travel is fundamentally about economics: Despite stubborn inflation and storm clouds on the international horizon, consumer interest in travel is surging – with trips abroad reaching their highest level in recent memory."
The Auto Club Group predicts more than 38 million people in the U.S. will travel by car this weekend, the highest number for the Memorial Day holiday since AAA began tracking in 24 years ago.
Colorado's gas prices, which are currently averaging $3.35 a gallon, are expected to jump during the summer as the state's major refineries switch to producing reformulated gasoline as part of an EPA mandate due to severe ozone pollution along the northern Front Range.
Denver International Airport
Officials at Denver International Airport estimated that Thursday and Friday will be its busiest days with more than 80,000 passengers going through security screenings each days.
Overall, the airport said nearly 450,000 people are expected to pass through the airport's TSA checkpoints between Thursday and Tuesday, May 28. That would be a 9% increase over last year's passenger traffic during the Memorial Day weekend.
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