A safety officer at Liverpool John Lennon Airport expects his Boxing Day shift to be busy after a "strange" Christmas last year.
Conor Burns, 24, is an airside safety officer at the airport responsible for the general safety of everything that happens on the runway on a day-to-day basis.
Conor has been at the airport for a number of years in various roles including working in the car parks.
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But he said working as an airside safety officer is a great job and "one of the more enjoyable at the airport."
Conor is working Boxing Day this year and expects it to be much busier than when he worked on Christmas Day last year.
He told the ECHO he wasn't meant to be working on Christmas last year as the airport was cancelling flights due to the UK being put on the red list — but an unexpected freight operation saw him called in.
He said: "Last year I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It was tough.
"Christmas Day was up in the air last year as loads of countries were putting us on the red list so they were cancelling flights left, right and centre.
"The airport decided it was going to close, but then we had a request for two freight aircraft to land carrying what I think was testing kits.
"They came in on Christmas Day so airport management asked if anyone could come in. I thought yeah of course, I was planning to be in anyway, so I was there for around three hours.
"It was good to be a part of the covid operation."
Conor adds the airport is usually more quiet on Christmas Day than other days, as Ryanair and EasyJet do not operate on December 25.
He said on Christmas Day last year the airport was operated by a skeleton crew of only around 10 people.
But he expects it to pick up a lot more on Christmas Day and during his Boxing Day shift this year, despite the recent news potential travel restrictions could come into affect following Christmas.
He said: "I expect it to be busier this year. I'll turn up around 5.
"My job depends a lot on the weather so I'll be on weather watch as well. If it looks like the temperature will drop I'll come in earlier to make sure we're good to go.
"I'll be in charge of what goes on safety wise for all the operations and marshalling the aircraft. It's going to be a busy, hands-on day."
Conor spent Christmas Day with his family but said his main celebrations would be on Christmas Eve due to the early rise on Boxing Day.
He normally spends Christmas at his grandma's house but couldn't because of the covid restrictions in place last December.
He said: "This year all the family will go to my nan's. We'll take precautions where necessary, but we just want to go back to hers like normal.
"It was quite upsetting for everyone, particularly my nan and granddad, when we couldn't do it last year.
"The vaccine hadn't gone around at the time so it was tough, but this year it's looking a bit better, even though the news coming out of Downing Street isn't great.
"But I'll be with my mum, dad, girlfriend and nan and granddad.
"I can't have too much food and beer though because of work the next day so I think Christmas Eve will be my one."
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