BOSTON (AP) – A new sixth runway could help handle a surge of holiday travelers through the weekend at Logan International Airport, where most passengers appeared to avoid major hassles Wednesday during one of the year’s busiest travel days.

The airport’s new Runway 14/32 is ready for a planned opening today, but airport officials said it most likely would not see any use until Friday, since wind conditions Thanksgiving Day weren’t forecast to be favorable for takeoffs and landings on the new runway.

The runway is 5,000 feet – half the size of Logan’s three main jet runways – and suitable mostly for smaller planes. Its use is restricted to periods when winds are brisk at 10 knots or more, and blowing from the northwest or southeast.

“It will really help the air traffic congestion,” Ed Freni, Logan’s aviation director, said Wednesday.

The runway was built after three decades of opposition from many residents in neighborhoods bordering the airport, who fear it will worsen jet noise.

Freni expects a 4 percent increase over last year in Thanksgiving week passenger traffic at Logan because of heavier travel by the Boston area’s many college students and greater numbers of low-fare airlines operating out of the airport.

The airport expects to handle about 90,000 inbound and outbound passengers per day most of the week, and a slightly higher total on Sunday, forecast to be the week’s peak travel day.

On Wednesday, wait times at Logan’s security checkpoints were averaging less than 10 minutes, Freni said, and there were no long lines at ticket counters at midday.

“We’re busy, but we’re able to handle it,” Freni said.

Bob and Joyce Greif left their Lexington home at 10:30 a.m. hoping to arrive at Logan a couple hours early for their 3:20 p.m. JetBlue flight to Tampa, Fla., for a holiday weekend at their daughter’s home. They wound up arriving far earlier than expected because traffic was light and they already had reserved a parking space at a long-term lot.

With three hours to kill, they sat near the ticket counter sipping bottled water and eating homemade turkey sandwiches.

“There isn’t much to do,” said Bob Greif, a 68-year-old engineering professor at Tufts University. “But at least we know we’re going to get on the plane.”

Near the Greifs, Transportation Security Administration employees were trying to keep travelers informed about recently relaxed safety restrictions that allow travel-sized toiletries to be carried aboard flights in a sealable clear plastic bag.

TSA employees were stationed at tables near ticket counters, where they answered travelers’ questions.

“Any liquids, gels or lotions?” a TSA employee called to passers-by. “Stop on by. Get your information here.”

The new rules, announced in September, replaced an outright ban on liquids, lotions and gels ordered Aug. 10 after an alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound jetliners was foiled.