The green shoots of recovery are starting to show as scheduled flight departures from the UK over the early May bank holiday weekend – April 30th to May 2nd – are up 521% compared with the same bank holiday period in 2021. With data supplied from aviation analytics firm Cirium, find out all the information, and more, here!

UK gateways are scheduled to have 7,068 departures, offering more than 1.2 million seats, according to aviation analytics firm, Cirium – with the most popular destination being Dublin (Ireland), followed by Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Palma de Mallorca and Malaga (both Spain).

Of the UK-based airports, London’s Heathrow Airport is poised to be the busiest with 1,619 departures, neighbouring Gatwick is second at 968, while Manchester and Stansted follow at 671 and 670, respectively.

Consequently, the figure of 7,068 departures is up 521% in comparison with the early May bank holiday weekend 12 months earlier (1,139), and down only 22% with the same period during 2019 (9,020).

Airline-wise, budget giant easyJet has the most scheduled UK departures at 1,489, while major rival Ryanair follows at 1,201, along with British Airways and Jet2.com after that at 1,096 and 464, respectively.

However, despite this positive trend, the chief executive of Heathrow revealed that the airport will be unprofitable for the remainder of the year and issued a stark warning about this winter’s flying programme.