With Thanksgiving two days away, aviation officials expect an increase this week in airline traffic nationwide, including heavier volume at Logan Airport.
Phil Orlandella, a Logan spokesman, said airlines have told the airport they expect their flights to be 90 to 100 percent full this week.
On an average day at Logan, 77,000 people fly in and out, and Orlandella estimated that this number would increase by about 3,000 per day during the holiday season.
Sunday will be the most heavily trafficked day because people will need to return from Thanksgiving vacations in time for work on Monday, Orlandella said.
“That’s our biggest day, probably, of the year,” he said.
To accommodate the greater volume of travelers, more airport employees, including security officials, will be on hand, Orlandella added.
“Every agency has more people on board this week,” he said.
While Orlandella said he was not in a position to comment on the recent radar malfunctions at Logan, which the airport addressed by installing a software patch on Nov. 11, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Paul Turk said he has heard no safety concerns expressed about Logan’s radar.
“We are in the safest period in aviation history,” Turk said. “We’d like to continue that pattern.”
The properly functioning radar system will make the airlines run more efficiently, Turk said.
“If the radar is performing up to standard, that reduces the potential for delay,” he explained.
Turk estimated that nationwide, 21.7 million passengers will board airlines between last Saturday and next Tuesday, noting that the total number of flights will likely be higher than usual levels.
But Turk also said this year’s traffic levels may be slightly lower than last year’s, due to airlines reducing their capacity with smaller planes.
Turk advised passengers to allow themselves plenty of time before flights and to help security screenings go as smoothly as possible by having photo identification and boarding passes ready, making sure baggage is unlocked, leaving presents unwrapped and being patient.