Airlines see busiest Christmas season on record

Airlines on both sides of the Atlantic are bracing for their busiest Christmas season as tens of millions of passengers take to the skies. In the UK, carriers will fly 6.1mn seats between December 20 and January 2, a 5% increase on the previous record set in 2019, according to aviation data company Cirium. The most popular international destinations for UK departures are Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva, Paris and Tenerife. Across the Atlantic, a record 54mn passengers are forecast to fly on US carriers between December 19 and January 6, according to trade group Airlines for America (A4A). US airlines are offering 140,000 more seats each day than they did during the 2023 holiday period, A4A added. Orlando, Las Vegas, Cancún, Fort Lauderdale and Honolulu are among the popular destinations. The record Christmas is the closing chapter on a busy year for airlines in the UK and US, and reflects the sustained strong demand for travel since the pandemic ended.  Airline bosses believe consumers are prioritising holidays and travel over other discretionary spending, even following several years of high inflation. Still, ticket prices have fallen in many leading markets in 2024, and some airlines including Ryanair, Europe’s largest, reported a drop in profit over the summer.<br/>