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Holiday Travel In Full Swing At DFW Airport

DFW AIRPORT (CBS11) - Nearly eight-million air travelers are expected to arrive and/or depart DFW Airport during the traditional holiday travel season.

A part of that season, Thanksgiving, has come and gone, but the next wave began Friday with travelers flying to Christmas locations.

"We expect about a 3 percent increase this season," airport spokesman David Magaña said Friday.

An estimated 180,000 to 190,000 travelers daily will come through DFW over the next week. The busiest day of the travel period happens on January 2, according to airport officials.

"It's the one day the majority of people use for return flights," Magaña said.

Friday, vehicle gridlock along the various airport terminals may have been the biggest challenge. Thousands arrived to either pick up or drop off travelers. And cold, wet conditions didn't help the situation.

The Shalabi family from Dallas counted 15 people gathered to spend their Christmas in Florida.

"We going to Disney World. We made sure we got here (airport) early, to get through security," Zi Zi Shalabi said.

It took the family less than ten minutes to access the terminal, en route to their holiday destination.

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