As many get ready to jet off for the October half-term holidays, Cirium has revealed that over 27,194 flights are set to depart UK airports during the period. The number of available seats from UK airports is also up 5% during half-term 2024 compared to 2019, as airlines use larger aircraft on their UK services.

Cirium Data – October half-term

• During October half-term 2024*, 27,194 flights are scheduled to depart UK airports – equating to over 4.9 million seats.

• Tomorrow, Friday 25 October, is set to be the busiest day for departures over the holiday period, with 3,080 departures from UK airports, as many families jet off

• The number of available seats from UK airports is up 5% during half-term 2024, from the 4.6 million pre-pandemic

• However, departures from UK airports during half-term 2024 remain 4% down compared to the same period in 2019 (when there were 28,351 departing flights)

• Departures are down 3% compared to October half-term 2023, as post-pandemic demand plateaus

• The most popular international destinations for UK departures will be Amsterdam, Dublin, Alicante, Paris CDG, Malaga

• easyJet is projected to be the largest airline during the holiday period, followed by British Airways, Ryanair and Jet2

• Heathrow Airport will see the largest number of departures, followed by Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, and Edinburgh.