WORCESTER, Mass. - Ticket counters at the Worcester Regional Airport were filled with travelers Tuesday coming and going to their holiday destinations.

"People are hungry to travel, especially the leisure travelers," said airport director Andy Davis. "Those are the ones that are traveling this weekend to come home and feast a bit and enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends."

Cheryl Alano is one of the more than 4.5 million travelers AAA is predicting will fly this week. Not having to go to Boston is a sigh of relief for the Grafton resident, who flew to Florida to see her son for Thanksgiving.

"It's great," Alano said. "We really enjoy it. We use it a lot. My husband is handicapped. It's easy in and out. So, it's very convenient for us."

Davis said for much of this year, the airport was still recovering from the pandemic. AAA said airline schedules across the country are still reduced by roughly 20%. But as the holiday season starts, Davis said the airport, as well as its airlines, are in much better shape.

"We've been taking a look at the numbers recently the last month or two," Davis said. "And we're on par to be pretty close to pre-COVID numbers for the second half of this year."

That's good news for businesses like the Mirage Express. The café inside of the airport closed for a year during the pandemic, and reopened last summer. The holiday bump can be stressful, but the small business welcomes it.

"We have a lot of college kids who's traveling too, from Holy Cross, WPI," said Joe Louis, a manager at the café. "Most of them traveling this weekend, today, tomorrow. More people flying, today is very busy. Over 300 overall, thank God. Can't complain."