Thousands of people will fly out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Friday to reach their Fourth of July holiday destinations.
More people are expected to fly this July 4 because the holiday falls on a weekend, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
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TSA agents are preparing to screen about 130,000 people at RDU over the holiday weekend. Officials said security checkpoints are fully staffed and prepared to handle large passenger volume.
"We are staffed to manage our wait times...30 minutes or less for standard screening," said Jennifer Gordon, TSA's federal security director at RDU
The peak travel times at RDU are 5 a.m.to 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
"Those peak travel times are going to be busy at the checkpoints," Gordon said. "That’s why we remind folks to arrive in plenty of time to do everything they need to do to get comfortably to their gate."
It’s recommended that you arrive at the airport two hours early for a domestic flight and three hours early for an international flight. Sunday and Monday will also be very busy travel days as people head back from their holiday trips.
This year is projected to be the busiest travel period for the Fourth of July in history, according to AAA.
The travel company estimates over 72 million Americans will travel for the holiday, 5.85 million will travel by air. This is an increase of 0.2% from last year.
The top travel destinations include Seattle, Anchorage, New York, Chicago and Boston.
The travel window for Independence Day spans nine days and includes two weekends; from June 27 to July 5.