other people are happy to be at the airport because they re on their way to enjoy the holiday weekend. it s a mixed bag here. take a look at tsa, the main security checkpoint and it s moving pretty quickly. people are briskly going through, in and out of the different rows to make their way to the front. so today we saw more than 200 flights canceled. that has only been a steady, small incline throughout the morning. the biggest issue are the delays. more than 1,500 delayed across the country and that s just the domino effect. if you have one small delay at 6:00 a.m. that will impact the next flight and the next connecting flight and so on and so forth impacting airports across the country. let s look at tsa checkpoints as travelers make their way through. we know we had about 2.44 million passengers make their way through tsa security checkpoints on thursday.
the blame game is well under way. reporter: millions of passengers are descendsing on airports along with summer storms putting short staffed airlines to their biggest test in year. the tsa screened 2.44 million passengers at u.s. airports on thursday, just shy of a new pandemic record. it feels much more like 2019 than the prior two years. reporter: with more problems for passengers. 3.5% of all flights this year have been cancelled. a 42% increase over 2019. go the earliest time as possible. reporter: airlines say they are facing range of challenges at the carrier and federal government level. just the week, airlines pointed to air traffic control delays caused by staffing issues at a key facility in florida. who is really to blame when it comes to these massive cancellations?
welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i m kim brunhuber. this is cnn newsroom. the fourth of july holiday weekend just begun here in the u.s. but for many, travel disruptions is causing chaos. delta airlines says it s expecting operational challenges over the holiday. nearly 400 flights have been canceled today with additional flights delayed. aaa predicts 40 million people will be driving this weekend and over 3.5 million people flying. reporter: millions of passengers are descending on airports along with summer storms, putting short-staffed airlines to their biggest test in years. the tsa screened 2.44 million passengers at u.s. airports on thursday, just shy of a new pandemic-era record. it feels much more like 2019 than the prior two years. reporter: although with
and we do appreciate the insight you have given us. thanks so much for having me on. july 4th weekend could prove to be one of the busiest times for air travel since the beginning of the pandemic. but, bad weather and airline staffing issues plaguing the industry with cancellations could make it unfortunately a travel holiday from hell. aviation correspondent pete muntean joining us live from reagan national airport, and, pete, that s why i am going nowhere. but a lot of people behind you are not doing that. reporter: it s so true. this is the biggest test yet for the airlines that are recovering from the pandemic, brianna. 2.44 million people screened at airports nationwide just yesterday by the tsa. here at reagan national airport, they re anticipating today to be the busiest of the weekend, they re screening 35,000 people here alone. cancellations are already going up. look at the latest numbers from flight aware, more than 200 flight cancellations nationwide
in short, the airlines are short staffed. this is the biggest test yet for the airlines that they have faced of the pandemic recovery. 2.44 million people passed through security at america s airport yesterday. airlines got a lot smaller over the pandemic. when bad weather strikes combined with the short staffing, that s when the deck of cards come tumbling down. more than 400 yesterday. the last two weekends have been really bad. last weekend, more than 2000 cancellations nation wide. the weekend before, more than 3200 nationwide. airlines are under this man date from transportation secretary pete buttigieg to get their acts together. i want you to listen to what he said when airlines put some of the onnous back on the federal