With the European Union warning of a repeat of last summer’s flight disruption due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, strikes and possible wildfires, one British newspaper claims to have identified which days will be the busiest at airports across the country.
Using data from aviation data analyst Cirium, plus information supplied by airports themselves, The Independent claims Fridays, Sundays and Mondays will be the busiest throughout the rest of July and August.
The four busiest UK airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, will be most crowded during the second half of August, according to the publication.
The busiest days will be Fridays at Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Manchester, Sundays at Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, and Mondays at Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle, it said.
Cardiff’s busiest day overall will be on 28 August, with 2,684 passengers taking off from the Welsh airport, according to The Independent.
Edinburgh, which has just lifted the 100ml rule on liquids in hand luggage, will be busiest tomorrow, 11 July, while Glasgow’s passenger numbers will peak on Monday 14 July.
Newcastle will see its busiest day on Monday 21 July, while at Birmingham it will be Friday 25 July. Birmingham has also eased its restrictions on liquids in hand luggage, which should reduce security queues.
Luton Airport’s busiest day overall will be Sunday 27 July, but it will handle the most departing passengers on Friday 1 August.
In Bristol, the peak departure days will be Friday 25 and Saturday 26 July, but the airport will be busiest overall on Friday 15 and Friday 22 August.
At Gatwick, the busiest day of the whole summer will be Sunday 17 August, when it will handle more than 160,000 passengers.
Passenger numbers at Manchester Airport will peak at 115,000 on 22 August, while at nearby Liverpool Airport, 28 July will see the most departures but 25 August will be the busiest overall.
At Heathrow, the number of seats available on departing aircraft will peak at 151,155 on Friday 29 August, according to Cirium, but the airport has not confirmed that this will be its busiest day.
The third Friday in August is usually the busiest at Stansted, but Cirium believes Sunday 31 August will have the most departures, with 54,000 passengers flying from the airport on the last day of the month.
*Image is a stock photo taken at Stansted in July 2023
