ORLANDO, Fla. — Once again, Orlando International Airport officials are expecting travel to soar this holiday season, with predictions already topping numbers prior to the pandemic and even last year. But there are some recent additions and tips that officials say may make your holiday traveling a bit more jolly.

According to recent estimates, they expect more than 150,000 people to filter through the Orlando International Airport on Thursday, whether they are heading out of town or arriving for Christmas next week.

As usual for big holiday travel days, the Orlando International Airport is increasing resources like additional airport support staff and two new parking lots to accommodate the increase of travelers, trying to make the overall travel experience run as smooth as possible.

Compared to last year, officials say that the airport has added over 2,000 additional parking spaces, with the opening of a new surface lot on Friday. That’s along with two new surface lots that opened last month.

“Travel, especially leisure travel, has really been booming. And certainly, air travel, for example, 7.5 million are expected during this holiday. That’s already broken pre-pandemic levels,” said Senior Vice President of Travel of AAA Paula Twidale.

Officials say a lot of pre-planning can help with the travel experience, including the 3-2-1 guidelines where you are at the ticket counter 3 hours ahead of your flight, security check point 2 hours ahead of your flight and at your gate an hour before departure.

As it stands, they predict nearly 3.9 million people to travel throughout this month for Christmas and the new year, which would be a 13.5% increase compared to last season, according to officials.