This weekend is set to be a busy one for airports in the UK, with both the Friday and the following Monday being taken as public holidays in conjunction with the country’s Easter celebrations. For many people, the Easter weekend, whose later date this year was said to have been a factor in the March traffic decline at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), represents an ideal opportunity to fly to visit family.
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As such, airports big and small in the UK are gearing up for what looks set to be a busy long weekend. Indeed, current scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that more than 11,000 flights are set to depart from airports in the UK between Friday, April 18th, and Monday, April 21st. Let’s dive deeper into the data to examine what will be the busiest days and routes.
This Easter Won’t Quite Be The Busiest On Record
According to Cirium’s data, as shared by the company earlier today, a grand total of 11,278 flights are set to depart from airports in the UK throughout the long Easter weekend. These services will collectively offer more than 2.06 million seats (at an average of almost 183 per departure), and a whopping combined figure of more than 3.1 billion available seat miles (ASMs). But which days of the weekend are busiest?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the four-day nature of the long weekend trips that many UK travelers will be taking over Easter in order to make best use of their days off, Friday 18th and Monday 21st will be the busiest days in terms of scheduled departures at the country’s airports. These days will respectively see 2,949 and 2,909 flights, compared to 2,624 on Saturday 19th and 2,796 on Sunday 20th.
Compared to last year’s figures, traffic at UK airports in terms of scheduled departures is up by a factor of 6% year-on-year compared to Easter 2024, which fell at the start of April. This, as Cirium notes, shows “the continued recovery of the industry.” However, this weekend won’t be the busiest Easter weekend ever at UK airports, as the departures fall 4% short of the 11,743 that took off over Easter 2019.
Short-Haul Getaways & Flights From London Are Most Popular
London Heathrow is the busiest airport in the UK, with over 80 million guests a year. While its dominance of the sector is well known, this is particularly evident over the long Easter weekend. Indeed, with 2,680 scheduled departures, the facility accounts for almost 23.8% of the nation’s overall traffic. Other big hitters include London Gatwick (LGW), Manchester Airport (MAN), and London Stansted (STN).
According to Cirium, Dublin Airport (DUB) is set to be the most popular international destination from UK airports this Easter in terms of scheduled departures, with 463 flights across the weekend. These are split between 121 on Friday, 107 on Saturday, 116 on Sunday, and 119 on Monday. Heathrow has the most Dublin-bound departures, with 65, followed by Manchester on 51 and Edinburgh Airport (EDI) on 46.
Spain Ranks Highly Among The Top Destinations This Easter
Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) in the Netherlands is another popular destination, with 421 flights and 59,631 seats available on flights from airports in the UK this Easter. Of course, as well as being a compelling destination in its own right, Amsterdam is also notable for being a hub for onward connections. Heathrow has the most departures, with 61 across the weekend.
Further afield, Spanish destinations remain a popular prospect for UK travelers this Easter, with Malaga (AGP), Alicante (ALC), and Palma de Mallorca (PMI) all ranking highly (as they tend to do throughout the year). The Costa del Sol’s Malaga has 239 departures from UK airports, offering 45,123 seats, while Alicante has 239 flights and 45,364 seats, compared to 233 flights and 42,830 seats for Palma de Mallorca.
