Tomorrow (Good Friday) is projected to be the busiest day for travel as an expected 2.1 million people escape forecast bad UK weather over Easter.
Spain remains the favourite foreign holiday destination for the holiday weekend, with Malaga, Alicante and the Canary Islands the most popular regions.
While coastal Turkey and Egypt also expected to attract Easter sun- seekers, people will be travelling even further afield with Abta members reporting that Cancun and Florida are selling well.
UK airports are reporting that Amsterdam, Budapest and Rome are popular short break destinations.
The trend for low-cost long-haul flights is also influencing Easter getaways with large increases in the number of people flying from Gatwick to destinations such as Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Boston over last Easter.
With Easter falling early there continues to be good snow and skiing conditions in the Alpine resorts. Resorts in France, Austria and Italy have sold well for Easter, according to Abta.
Airports are reporting strong numbers with about 500,000 leaving from Heathrow, 260,000 from Gatwick, 180,000 from Stansted and almost 100,000 from Luton.
Regional airports will be busy, with 160,000 leaving from Manchester, 50,000 from Bristol and more than 100,000 from Scottish airports.
Other regional airports, ferry terminals and the Channel Tunnel will also be extremely busy over the weekend with more than 70,000 people booked to travel by Eurostar, with Paris being the most popular minibreak destination.
Bookings for UK breaks are also healthy with many customers travelling to coastlines, national parks and theme parks for the Easter season.
Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “The Easter weekend is one of the busiest of the year for the travel industry.
“Millions of holidaymakers will be heading overseas over the long weekend for some much needed sunshine, adventure or change of scenery, while the UK will also be popular.
“The getaway for Easter tends to be one of the busiest times of year on the roads – with the Met Office predicting wet and windy weather we advise anyone travelling by car to airports, ferry terminals or directly to their holiday destinations to leave plenty of time. If using public transport, check in advance for engineering works.”