Dublin, Amsterdam and Spain dominate top Easter holiday destinations
During the Easter weekend, 11,282 flights are scheduled to depart UK airports, with more than two million seats.
Good Friday is projected to be the busiest day of the weekend, with 2,949 departures – an average of one flight taking off from a UK airport every 30 seconds.
More flights will be going to Dublin than anywhere else. Almost 70,000 passengers are heading for the Irish capital between Good Friday and Easter Monday – more than those going to Paris, Madrid and Rome combined.
In the top 30 compiled exclusively for The Independen t, Amsterdam takes second place. The Irish and Dutch capitals are followed by the three most popular Spanish airports – Alicante, Malaga and Palma – and, in sixth place, Dubai.
Faro, the gateway to the Portuguese Algarve, appears at seventh. Tenerife and Barcelona are eighth and ninth respectively, with Paris CDG taking 10th place.
Spain is by far the most popular destination, taking five of the top 10 spots,
The remainder of the top 30 provides some intriguing revelations. Turkey is well represented, with Antalya at 11 and Istanbul at 16. The second Turkish Riviera airport, Dalaman, takes 25th spot.
The top long-haul destination, Dubai, has almost 50 per cent more capacity than New York – the only US city to appear, in 12th place. But British travellers take Manhattan well ahead of Berlin; the German capital has barely half as many departing seats and appears at 26th.
Top ski airport is Geneva, in 13th, with Doha – hub for Qatar Airways – one place behind.
In the lower half of the table, five capitals occupy 18th to 22nd positions:
Madrid
Lisbon
Copenhagen
Rome
Budapest
Next along is Krakow in Poland, which remarkably attracts more travellers than the Czech capital, Prague.
The final four places in the top 30 are taken by Athens, Nice, Munich and Gran Canaria.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said: 'The robustness of the desire to travel by the British public demonstrates the industry's agility to deliver what UK consumers are looking for.
'City breaks across our travel agent partners are strong for Easter and have proved a popular option for families and couples. With Easter falling later this year, we have also seen greater demand, with late bookings accounting for approximately 40 per cent of total sales – an indication that families are perhaps choosing to travel over Easter rather than at the peak of the summer months.'
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: 'The Easter period is mostly about short-haul breaks in Europe.
'Except for year-round perennial favourite Dubai, every other destination in the top 10 for seats from the UK is in Europe, proving that closer is more practical and usually more affordable for most British travellers.
'One thing you can guarantee as well is how full these flights will be, so do check in two hours before your flight is due to depart because airports will be very busy.'
All the leading holiday airports except Edinburgh have told The Independent their busiest day will be Friday 18 April; at the Scottish capital's airport, Sunday will see the most passengers.
Edinburgh is the destination for the most popular domestic route, British Airways from London Heathrow. BA also takes the next three places, with links from Heathrow to Glasgow, Belfast City and Aberdeen.
30 busiest international destinations by seats
(scheduled to depart from UK airports over the Easter weekend, 18–21 April)
Dublin: 69,217
Amsterdam: 59,631
Alicante: 45,364
Malaga: 45,123
Palma: 42,830
Dubai: 40,417
Faro: 37,580
Tenerife: 36,650
Barcelona: 33,838
Paris: 30,659
Antalya: 29,109
New York: 27,440
Geneva: 27,233
Doha: 24,507
Lanzarote: 23,439
Istanbul: 22,662
Frankfurt: 20,972
Madrid: 20,436
Lisbon: 20,285
Copenhagen: 18,217
Rome: 17,967
Budapest: 16,815
Krakow: 16,512
Prague: 15,846
Dalaman: 15,445
Berlin: 15,379
Athens: 15,272
Nice: 14,929
Munich: 14,605
Gran Canaria: 14,402
10 busiest UK domestic routes by seats
(scheduled to depart from UK airports over the Easter weekend, 18–21 April)
Heathrow to Edinburgh: 7,353 seats
Heathrow to Glasgow: 6,616 seats
Heathrow to Belfast (BHD): 4,458 seats
Heathrow to Aberdeen: 4,178 seats
Stansted to Edinburgh: 4,128 seats
Stansted to Belfast (BFS): 3,939 seats
Manchester to Belfast (BFS): 3,867 seats
Manchester to Heathrow: 3,738 seats
Belfast (BFS) to Edinburgh: 3,711 seats
Gatwick to Jersey: 3,501 seats
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