Ahead of one of the busiest weekends for travel, many UK airports and the Eurostar have increased security patrols and enhanced security checks following explosions in Brussels on 22 March. ABTA estimates that two million British holidaymakers are expected to head overseas for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend from Friday 25 March to Monday 28 March, and is advising all travellers to allow adequate time for check in and security clearance at airports, borders and ports.
London airports will be busy with 425,000 holidaymakers departing from Heathrow. Gatwick is reporting a record-breaking Easter with around 290,000 departures over the weekend, 157,000 will leave from Stansted and 80,500 from Luton.
Airports in the rest of the country are also seeing large passenger numbers with 59,000 departing from Birmingham, 36,000 from the East Midlands, 17,500 from Newcastle and 200,000 from Manchester.
Other regional airports, ferry terminals and the Eurotunnel will also be extremely busy over the weekend.
Eurostar are reporting a busy weekend with over 22,000 people departing from the UK on Good Friday alone. Whilst a normal service on Eurostar has returned following the attacks, all passengers are asked to allow one hour to check in due to enhanced security checks at the stations.
This is expected to be a particularly busy Easter for holidays. Spain is once again the most popular destination for the Easter break with the Canary Islands in particular seeing large numbers of British holidaymakers. Further afield Orlando, Dubai, Mexico and the Dominican Republic are popular choices. Holidaymakers are also expected to take advantage of the early Easter and hit the ski slopes. Geneva airport is expected to be very busy as skiers head to the Swiss, French and Italian Alps.
