A huge 41 million Americans took family holidays for the American Thanksgiving holiday last week. They took flights to and from Orlando airport and began making their way home last Saturday.

It has been said by airport officials at Orlando International Airport that they had originally expected a much slower than normal number of flights and holiday makers this weekend. They had estimated 200,000 people taking flights and going through the airport within the next two days as the family holiday celebrations come to an end.

Officials moved holiday makers through Orlando quickly and efficiently earlier in the weekend with the use of special queuing lines and extra employees were employed over the holiday weekend break.
It still happened that there were flight delays on Saturday morning; however, most flights were on time.
More than 80% of the 41 million American’s taking family holidays during Thanksgiving are said to be going by car and Central Florida’s roadways are notorious for stressful congestion situations that only be found on a weekend break such as this.

“We all know gas prices are low, and that will probably contribute to a lot of people out on the roads,” said transportation expert, Mike Wacht. “They put off vacation earlier in the year, when gas prices where high, so we really expect busy roadways.”

Either way, the overall figures of the number of family holiday travelers is so far down this year, by 1.5% on the road and passengers taking flights is down so far by 11%.

Orlando International Airport alone was down on the number of people taking flights during this time by 13% from the number of travelers in 2007.

It was recently announced that in August, the international traffic travelling through Orlando International Airport grew significantly.

This spurt in international traffic in the month of August helped to offset the Florida airport’s decline in domestic flights.

Approximately three million passengers went through the airport in August.  This was an increase of 16 per cent in international passengers when compared to August in 2007.

Orlando International Airport handled almost 37 million passengers in the twelve month rolling period up to August this year, both domestic and foreign, an increase of almost four per cent on the previous year.

The airport is also forecasting higher figures next year as many expect that tourists will rushing to take advantage of the special offer from Walt Disney, which will be allowing people to enter their American parks for free on their birthday.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland will be offering activities and events at their resorts, which will be geared to a celebration theme, including special barbecues and street parties.

Flights to Florida are available from most major UK airports as it is one of the most popular holiday destinations with the Brits.