ORLANDO, Fla. — Expected to be the busiest time to travel, airport officials at Orlando International Airport say the number of Thanksgiving passengers has exceeded projections, so far logging a 14.5% increase from last year.

Experts say OIA is expected to be one of the busiest airports in the country over the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period. Just four days in, airport staff said the 14.5% increase in travel from this time last year equates to 78,000 more passengers.

Early Wednesday morning, crowds came in waves through TSA checkpoints, but seemed to move through smoothly — there was some backup in lines to get through ticketing prior to counters opening, but lines moved not long after that.

“So far, not bad today," said traveler Jaco Gouws ahead of his flight to Boston. "I thought it was going to be a bit of a zoo. I tried to book an early flight to get out of here, and it’s not bad."

“Not bad, it’s moving," he added. "There’s a lot of agents where it’s so far, it’s looking really good. Let’s hope the rest of the country plays along so the plane schedule stays on as it should be, right?"

Airport officials advise passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight. 

By about 3 p.m. EST, they also urged passengers to get someone to drop them off at the aiport, if possible, or to use park and ride or a ride share because parking was close to reaching capacity.