The holiday travel season is underway and a strong economy and low gas prices could encourage more Mississippians to travel. The loss of a carrier at the state's largest airport is contributing to fewer people flying.

In the capital city at the Jackson-Evers international airport in the capital city, a passenger rolls a bag to the check-in.

Gene Moore with the airport says they are expecting heavy traffic during the holiday travel season.

"Over the traveling week, from December 20 to December 25th, we are averaging about 2-thousand passengers a day," Moore said.

However, Moore says total traffic for the year is down about 8-percent, which he attributes to budget air carrier Southwest leaving the market.

Dutch Mitchell says losing Southwest led to a more expensive ticket and he almost didn't make the trip to Mississippi from Austin, Texas.

"If it hadn't been for hotwire I don't know what I would have done. (That's a heck of a drive). Definitely, no doubt about that," Mitchell said.

The travel research firm triple-A says a solid economy coupled with low gas prices should lead to a four-percent increase in holiday travelers.

That translates into 98-million Americans traveling.