Stansted expects thousands to travel this weekend as restrictions eased
It's expected to be the airport's busiest weekend of the year so far
Stansted is expecting over 30,000 people to fly from the airport today, on what it expects to be its busiest weekend of the year so far.
Between 11th February and 18th February, they predict around 200,000 passengers will depart from its terminal, heading to popular destinations including Italy and Spain.
It comes as COVID travel testing restrictions are eased, meaning those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to take a post-arrival lateral flow test.
Nick Millar, Stansted's Operations Director said other factors were also coming into play: "It links back to recovery, to restrictions going for Omicron here and easing across Europe.
"Put all that together with customer confidence in flying again, and no chance of restrictions when they come home, and then throw half term into the mix too, we're seeing a late resurgence of people wanting to travel quickly."
Although travel restrictions have eased, he's still urging caution: "Even though the restrictions have eased, we would still encourage people to get here earlier than they normally would.
"They can expect the airport to look like it did before. We encourage people to wear masks, aligned with the government guidance, but obviously that's an encouragement rather than something we're mandating.
"Most airlines will require you to wear a mask to fly, as well."
Nick's now looking ahead to the warmer months: "Looking at our early forecast for our summer, around about 85% of summer 2019, the last summer before the pandemic, is our hope, and expectation.
"We're really confident that's likely to be the case, and what we're hearing from our airlines is very positive."
Booking.com reports nearly two thirds of people (62%) are planning a holiday this year, if their budget allows.
Ryan Pearson, regional manager of the site says Brits are chasing the warmer weather: "Brits definitely can't wait to get back to the sun, so the Spanish coast and holiday favourites like Benidorm, even as far as Dubai."
He also said city breaks remained popular: "Paris was the top booked international destination for Brits in the week when the the removal of testing was announced -that's not surprising as we approach Valentine's Day.
"We also saw a 25% jump in searches for Madrid and cities like Barcelona and Lisbon, which combine both city, sun and beach."
Not everyone is planning on heading to far-flung destinations though: "We still see strong demand in the UK, in terms of the staycation boom that we've seen in the last two summers.
"Scotland remains a really popular choice, with the top five trending destinations for UK travellers all being in the Highlands and islands."