Today was expected to see the highest number of daily departures from UK airports since October 2019.
Compared to the same weekend last year, expected departures were due to be up 4%, to a total of 3,214.
Data from aviation analysts Cirium showed that scheduled departures for the whole weekend would have still fallen 7% short of 2019 levels, but there were 2,500 more seats available due to airlines using larger aircraft.
However, many flights could be cancelled due to a global IT outage, which had caused more than 1,000 of today’s flights to be grounded worldwide before 10.30am.
EasyJet was due to have the highest number of departures today, followed by Ryanair, British Airways, Jet2 and TUI, with the most popular destinations being Dublin, Amsterdam, Palma, Alicante and Malaga.
However, easyJet said its busiest day this summer will be Sunday 28 July, when it will carry nearly 300,000 passengers on nearly 2,000 flights across its European network.
The airline said this summer will be its busiest on record, operating over 80,000 flights during the school holidays.
Palma, Faro, Malaga, Nice and Barcelona are among its most popular destinations, but it said Greece and Turkey had seen an increase in popularity year on year.
