SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – After more than a year of staying home, San Francisco International Airport leaders say they’re starting to see more people booking flights.

Some people said they’ve been waiting to travel for a long time and many people are flying to tropical places for leisure.

“This is the first time that I’ve traveled since the pandemic,” Antonio Perez said.

Perez says it’s been more than a year since he’s checked in for a flight and he’s not alone in his decision to fly.

“Last month there were probably 10,000-11,000 people per-day going through our security checkpoints, that number is now up to 14,000-15,000 a day and continues to climb,” Doug Yakel said. 

Doug Yakel with San Francisco International Airport says many of these people are taking vacations.

“We’re not expecting much in business travel for the remainder of this year so we do think that as travel is starting to recover and it is, it’s really that leisure sector that is leading the recovery,” Yakel said. 

Airport leaders are trying to keep people safe — They have reminders for people to social distance, hand sanitizer available, and partitions up.

“Masking is still a requirement. Although a lot of states around the country have lifted their masking requirement at any airport on any aircraft in the united states it’s now a federal requirement that you wear a face mask at all times,” Yakel said. 

Still, Perez says he’ll be taking extra precautions on his flight.

“I cannot say that I feel very safe — That’s why I brought this one because I want to wear this on the plane because I think the air in the plane can be more contaminated than outside,” Perez said. 

Airport officials are looking into creating a digital health app that will be able to certify that people have been vaccinated or have had a negative test recently.