U.S. airports did a lot better for the Fourth of July holiday in 2021 than a year ago, but travel numbers are still below pre-COVID levels, writes Ty West for Philadelphia Business Journal.

Data from Cirium, which provides airport flight data, shows the number of flights scheduled between July 1-8, 2021 is 90 percent of the total that flew in that same period for 2019.

That’s actually an encouraging sign of improvement even if holiday travel doesn’t translate into increased business travel.

A total of 167,744 flights were scheduled for this year’s holiday week, up from 93,309 in 2020, but down from 186,048 in 2019.

Philadelphia International Airport saw an 89 percent increase in incoming flights for the holiday week.

 The airport had 2,711 flights scheduled during the holiday week this year compared to just 1,434 in 2020.

American, Philadelphia’s dominant carrier, operated an additional 1,112 arrivals here.

American offered 46 more flights between Dallas-Forth Worth and San Antonio during the holiday week than it did a year ago.

American also added 45 flights between Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 45 between Orlando and Charlotte.

Read more at Philadelphia Business Journal about holiday flight counts doubling this July 4 week.