A record was broken in the US ahead of the Memorial Day weekend for the number of airline travellers screened at airports across the country, the US Transportation Security Administration reported Saturday. That included the busiest day for the world’s busiest airport – Atlanta.

More than 2.9 million travellers were screened at US airports on Friday, surpassing a previous record set last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to the agency.

“Officers have set a new record for most travellers screened in a single day!” the TSA tweeted.

The third busiest day on record was set on Thursday when just under 2.9 million travellers were screened at US airports.

In Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport broke a traffic record on Thursday when 111,000 passengers, airlines crew and airport employees were screened at security checkpoints. The second busiest day followed on Friday when 109,960 people were screened, according to the TSA.

With 104.6 million passengers, the Atlanta airport was the busiest in the world last year, according to Airports Council International.

Memorial Day marks the start of the busy summer travel period and US airlines expect to carry a record number of passengers this season. Their trade group estimates that 271 million travellers will fly between June 1 and Aug. 31, breaking the record of 255 million set last summer.

AAA predicted this will be the busiest start-of-summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to roam at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday — 38 million of them taking vehicles.

In it’s tweet, TSA cautioned travellers to “arrive early!”