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Holiday travelers get early start at JIA

Travelers make their way to security before checking in at their gates on Monday as the Thanksgiving travel period begins at Jacksonville International Airport.
Corey Perrine
/
Florida Times-Union
Travelers make their way to security before checking in at their gates on Monday as the Thanksgiving travel period begins at Jacksonville International Airport.

Carol Lahey hit the friendly skies on Monday to get to her family's Thanksgiving gathering in Baltimore, joining 9,953 others who flew out of Jacksonville International Airport.

That's 5,645 more than the same day in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that's almost 1,100 more than the Monday before Thanksgiving 2019, months before COVID-19 began to disrupt the world.

The Avondale woman is one of an estimated 4 million Americans set to fly this Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA. While Lahey has flown during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was her first during a busier holiday as JIA's PA system reminded everyone of the federal mandate to wear masks in airports and planes.

Read the rest of this story at WJCT News partner The Florida Times-Union,

Dan Scanlan - Florida Times-Union