LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles International Airport and other area airports are preparing for a crush of airline passengers, with Friday kicking off the busy Fourth of July travel season.

The Transportation Security Administration said it anticipated screening more than 28 million passengers between Friday and Monday, July 5-8. That would mark a 5.4% increase in traffic over last year.

Thursday was the fifth-busiest day in TSA history, with security officers processing 2.92 million passengers. That tally barely surpassed the 2.91 million travelers screened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2023.

LAX is expected to screen about 900,000 people between July 1 and July 8, according to TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers. She said the airport's anticipated busiest day will be July 3, when an estimated 119,000 people are expected to travel. Monday, July 8, is expected to be nearly as busy with 118,000 people.

The lightest day is projected to be July 4, with 100,000 travelers.

TSA is "fully staffed" and prepared for the increase, Dankers said.

"TSA has been planning for this holiday period for months and operations are going very smoothly at LAX," Dankers said in an email.

She added, "While [our] security screening officers will be working hard during the Fourth of July holiday, we are confident that travelers departing LAX will experience a smooth and efficient security screening experience."

TSA said wait time standards are 10 minutes and under in TSA PreCheck lanes and 30 minutes and under at regular screening lanes.

TSA is also expecting July 5 and July 7 to be the two busiest days of the travel cycle, with more than 3 million people traveling through 434 airports.

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