More than 7.2 million people are set to travel through London airports during the busiest Christmas season in three years, as Border Force workers begin their eight-day strike.
Stansted, London City and Gatwick airports have confirmed that December 23 is set to be their busiest day of the festive season, with 78,000 passengers flying in and out of Stansted and 11,000 at London City.
This is also the first day Unite union members will walk off the job in a strike over pay, jobs and conditions lasting until New Year’s Eve. The industrial action will affect Heathrow and Gatwick airports, as well as Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester airports.
To keep up with the large flow of passengers during the Border Force strike, other Government staff have been assigned to operate passport checks at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
Heathrow Airport is expecting just under six million passengers for the month of December, compared with 6.6 million in 2019.
The west London airport has already served 55.6 million people in the first 11 months of the year, with an annual total of 61.4 million passengers forecast for 2022 — about 75 per cent of 2019 levels.
Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million people are set to travel through Stansted Airport over the festive period — the busiest Christmas for the airport in three years.
About 650,000 passengers will be jetting out between December 16 and January 3, while 550,000 will be arriving during the same period.
That’s compared with the 300,000 passengers who flew out during the same time last year, while Covid restrictions were still in place.
On Christmas Day, 4,000 people are estimated to pass through the airport.
Some 5,800 people will be flying out of London City Airport on its busiest day, December 23, with 5,200 arriving.
A total of 10,500 are expected to fly in and out on its second busiest day — December 30.
London City Airport is closed on Christmas Day but expects “business as usual” at the border over the Christmas and New Year period.
More than 621, 000 passengers will travel through Luton Airport between December 19 and January 1, with over 322,000 departing passengers and 299,000 arriving passengers.
The busiest day for Luton over the Christmas period will be December 29, with over 57,000 passengers passing through. On Christmas Day, over 22,000 passengers are expected.
Meanwhile Gatwick’s busiest day for departures over the festive period is expected to be December 30, closely followed by December 23.
The Swiss city of Geneva is the most popular Christmas destination for people leaving Gatwick, followed by Dublin, Barcelona and Dubai.
Other popular long-haul destinations include New York and Cancun.
Spain’s winter sun hotspots — Malaga, Alicante, and the Canary Islands — are popular destinations this Christmas from Stansted Airport, along with flights to southern Turkey and Portugal, and Dubai with Emirates.
Early season skiers are heading to the slopes in France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia while New Year’s Eve breaks to Edinburgh, Vienna, Amsterdam, Dublin and Barcelona are also popular.
Passport checks for arriving passengers at Heathrow and Gatwick will take longer than usual, so passengers are advised to use e-gates where possible.
The warning comes as holidaymakers reported excessive queues to drop off luggage.
“Chaotic” scenes on Sunday saw passengers having to wait several hours to retrieve their bags, while dozens of people said their possessions did not arrive at their destination.