Friday before Christmas will be one of its busiest days of the year with 15,000 passengers passing through with a 3% rise expected for the whole festive period. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) is expecting to handle more than 140,000 passengers over the Christmas and New Year period – a 3% rise on last year.

The airport has seen consistent growth in monthly year-on-year passenger figures over 2018 and it expects to pass the five million mark for the year some time over the festive period with annual passenger numbers set to reach their highest level for seven years.

LJLA is expecting 4,000 more travellers to pass through the airport over the Christmas and New Year period with this Friday expected to be the one of busiest days with around 15,000 passengers departing and arriving.

As schools finish for Christmas towards the end of this week, families from across the region are expected to head off on flights over the holiday period with passengers travelling to a mix of destinations in search of some much needed Winter sun, to go skiing, visit relatives, or looking for Christmas and New Year festivities across a range of European cities.

The airport will once again be helping passengers get into the festive mood on Friday with a Christmas DJ, face painters and even Father Christmas finding time during his busy schedule to meet with passengers young and old.

As usual, popular flights for passengers over the coming days are expected to be winter ski destinations such as Geneva and Tenerife, while closer to home flights between Liverpool and Dublin, Belfast and the Isle of Man will be amongst the busiest with passengers travelling to be with friends and families.

LJLA management arise once again keen to remind all passengers to allow plenty of time to pass through the airport during this busy period and that restrictions on liquids carried in hand luggage are still in place. 

Robin Tudor, head of PR for LJLA, said: “The Christmas and New Year period is one of our busiest times of the year and we expect this year to be one of the busiest for some time, as thousands of passengers from across the region take advantage of the convenience of flying via Liverpool, without any of the hassle.”