Airlines have 5% more seats available from the UK this Christmas than pre-pandemic, even though the number of flights is still 2% down on 2019, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
It said airlines have laid on bigger aircraft to offer more than half a million seats between 20 December and 2 January.
Cirium said Friday will be the busiest day over the festive period, with 2,807 departures from the UK, with more than half a million seats available. However, ABTA suggested Sunday 22 December will be the busiest and Christmas Day the quietest.
The most popular destinations are Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva, Paris and Tenerife, according to Cirium, while ABTA the top holiday hotspots are the Canary Islands, southern Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Dubai.
For winter sports, the ski resorts of France, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia are the most popular this year, said ABTA, while for city break packages it’s Amsterdam, Budapest, Dublin, Paris, Prague and Vienna.
Cirium said the busiest days for key UK airports between Friday and 2 January are projected to be:
- Heathrow – 20 December
- Gatwick – 22 December
- Manchester – 22 December
- Stansted – 22 December
- Birmingham – 22 December
- Luton – 20 December
- Edinburgh – 27 December
- Newcastle – 20 December
- Bristol – 22 December
During the 13-day period, more than six million passengers are expect to depart the UK on more than 33,00 flights.
