Almost 30,000 passengers will be flying with British Airways on Christmas Day, the airline calculated ahead of the festive rush.
The busiest day will be on Thursday (December 22) as the airline carries a peak of 95,000 people heading away for Christmas.
New York is the most popular destination, followed by Geneva, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Manchester, Glasgow, Miami, Dubai, Cape Town and Amsterdam.
Homebound travel peaks on January 2, 2012 with 94,000 people flying on the BA network.
Head of UK & Ireland sales Richard Tams said: “Christmas is an exceptionally busy time of year for us and we’ve already welcomed tens of thousands of customers on board.
“December 22 is our next peak with people maximising their time off and we’re looking forward to carrying half a million people home in the first week of the new year.”