Easter weekend travel take off still behind pre-pandemic levels

Easter weekend flight departures are forecast to be down 4% on the equivalent peak travel period in pre-Covid 2019.

A total of 11,282 flights are scheduled from UK airports - equating to more than two million seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

But the volume remains behind the 11,743 departing flights over the Easter weekend six years ago.

Nonetheless, departures are up 6% compared to last Easter, showing the continued recovery of the industry.

The most popular international destination will be Dublin, followed by Amsterdam, Malaga, Alicante and Majorca.

Heathrow will see the largest number of departures, at 2,680, followed by Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.

Good Friday is projected to be the busiest day for UK departures during the weekend, with 2,949 flights taking off from UK airports

The overall Easter school holidays between April 4-21 will see 50,613 flights departing from UK airports - equating to over nine million seats.

EasyJet is projected to be the busiest airline throughout the holidays, with 10,276 departures from the UK, followed by British Airways and Ryanair.