Just like the M.I.A. stock market crash, the long-promised airline travel slump is nowhere to be found.
I checked the most recent TSA statistics available on airline passengers. More than 2.8 million people passed through TSA checkpoints on the latest day available, Thursday, May 15. That was some 40,000 more than the equivalent day in 2024 (May 16) and over 200,000 more passengers than the same day in 2023 (May 18). Not a holiday weekend, not spring break, not yet the summer rush, just packed airports and packed planes on a random Thursday.
Yet this headline featured in Forbes last week,
‘Trump Slump’ Hits Expedia: Shares Fall 8% Due To Weak U.S. Travel Demand
Ah, yes, the much-promised, but little-seen “Trump Slump.” I had occasion to venture out to the local airport this afternoon for a passenger drop-off. Despite the Trump Slump and the surrounding city in its final death throes, the airport on a Sunday mid-afternoon was a complete zoo both inside and out.
Unfortunately, I fear that all too few departing passengers were traveling on one-way tickets.
