British Airways, a UK-based airline, said that 175 aircraft will be taking off on December 25, and 955 pilots and 3,546 cabin crew will be working on Christmas day.
Covering its entire network, British Airways is expecting to see a peak of more than 115,000 customers travelling for the Christmas break on Friday December 20, 2013. The busiest day for those returning home is Friday, January 3, when nearly 102,000 people will be flying with the airline.
The airline estimates that nearly two million people will fly between Monday, December 16 and Sunday January 5, to and from the airline’s 166 destinations worldwide. The most popular Christmas destinations for British Airways’ passengers include New York, Scotland and the Caribbean.
As part of its celebrations, British Airways cabin crew will be hosting 30,000 festive travellers across its network on Christmas day, serving them thousands of turkey dinners and Christmas puddings.
Passengers might also encounter British Airways staff with Christmas themed surnames, including two Christmases, one Claus, four Rudolphs, two Snowballs, five Yules and five Angels!
For the New Year celebrations, the airline is promoting destinations that include Albuquerque (USA), Austin (USA), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
For 2014, the airline says that the places to be seen include Chengdu (China), Santorini (Greece), Glasgow (UK), Oporto (Portugal), Hong Kong (Greater China), Moscow (Russia), Mykonos (Greek Islands) and Malta.
British Airways has recently announced plans to offer more choice and benefits for customers, with route expansion and increased flight frequency for summer 2014, starting March 30.
The airline says that it is investing more than £5bn in new aircraft, smarter cabins, improved lounges, and new technologies to make life more comfortable for its passengers in the air and on the ground.
