May 25—The Albuquerque International Sunport is preparing for a big Memorial Day weekend and summer season — and it is asking travelers to be prepared as well.

So how does one prepare? Sunport officials say by arriving at least two hours ahead of scheduled departure times, keeping up-to-date with flight information and taking advantage of self-service kiosks, airline apps and TSA pre-check.

Sunport officials anticipate about 108,000 total passengers to make their way through the airport through Tuesday — a projected 15% increase from last May. The busiest day of the extended holiday weekend will be Monday, with an estimated 20,000 total passengers. Diana López Rabadán, a Sunport spokeswoman, said the Sunport doesn't have projections further out but expects "a very strong summer travel season."

"Based on national trends, there's a good chance we will be at or above the summer travel numbers from 2019/pre-pandemic," she said in an email to the Journal.

The Sunport's anticipated high-volume travel season, kicking off with the Memorial Day weekend, comes as the airport is working through an $87 million update that will include a new food hall and increase TSA's footprint by 50%, among other changes.

Travel at the Sunport also comes as the airport has beefed up the number of nonstop flights out of the airport. The number this year stands at 29, up from 24 last year — and the most since 2012 when the airport had 30 nonstop flights. A new, daily nonstop flight offered by Southwest Airlines between Albuquerque and Long Beach, California is set to take off Sept. 5.