DALLAS (AP) — People began loading up their cars and jumping on planes across the U.S. on Thursday as the long Memorial Day weekend kicked off. Even as politics and the nation’s aging air traffic infrastructure rattle the U.S. travel industry, Americans were expected to get away in record numbers.

As Memorial Day nears, travel experts at AAA are predicting busy airports and a record-breaking weekend of holiday travel on the roads.

Thursday kicks off the start of the busy Memorial Day weekend travel period, with more than 45 million people expected to travel between now and Monday.

Motorist group AAA said a record number of Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home for the Memorial Day ho

Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday that's supposed to be about mourning the nation's fallen service members, but it's come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of travel and discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.