Holidaymakers enjoy the beach in Benidorm
(Picture: STR/AFP via Getty Images)Britons are scrambling to book Easter breaks abroad amid reports all remaining Covid travel curbs will be scrapped next week.
Airlines revealed the Canary Islands and the Caribbean were among the most popular destinations for some Easter sunshine.
Budget airline Jet2 said it was seeing “strong and sustained demand for Easter holidays as international travel starts to look like normal again”.
“After two disappointing years for holidaymakers, this Easter is looking like an extremely popular time to escape, and we anticipate a huge getaway to the Easter sunshine in destinations such as Spain, the Canaries, the Balearics, Portugal, Cyprus and Turkey,” a spokesperson told the Standard.
Virgin Atlantic said customers were rushing to book relaxing getaways in the Caribbean for Easter - with Antigua, Grenada and Tobago proving most popular.
“We are also seeing last minute demand for the USA with bookings to JFK up 17% week on week, Boston up 19% week on week and Orlando up 4% with customers keen to enjoy a city break in these iconic cities or explore the theme parks,” said a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Ryanair said that “bookings are very strong throughout March, right through to the Easter break”.
A spokesperson said the Canary Islands and Santorini were among its most popular locations.
It comes after Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said he was expecting a “strong summer” for the airport with demand for foreign holidays rebounding after two heavily disrupted Covid years.
The recovery in numbers of passengers means that that the North Terminal is now operating at full capacity and the mothballed South Terminal will reopen later this month to cope with demand.
EasyJet has its biggest ever presence at the airport this summer with 79 Gatwick based aircraft flying 120 routes while BA will have 18 aircraft flying 35 short haul routes.
Mr Wingate, said: “Major announcements from our airlines about significantly increased flying schedules, and from Government on airport slot regulations and the relaxation of travel restrictions, mean we are now looking forward to a strong Summer.
“We’re currently focussed on reopening our South Terminal to ensure we can meet this expected strong demand and we are looking forward to welcoming back passengers in increasingly larger numbers.”
More than 30 million passengers are expected to fly to or from Gatwick this year, almost five times more than last year and two thirds of “normal.”
By the summer he expected the airport to be handling three to four million passengers a month.
He said pent up demand was very strong and there were no signs that the war in Ukraine has yet had any impact of passengers numbers.
All remaining Covid travel restrictions could be lifted in days in a boost for the Easter holidays, according to reports.
Passenger locator forms are said to be likely to be scrapped under plans being considered by ministers.
They are expected to be ditched following a scheduled committee meeting of “Covid-O” (Covid Operations) cabinet ministers next week, according to the Daily Mail.
Ministers will also decide whether to scrap testing for unvaccinated passengers, the newspaper reported. Under current rules only vaccinated arrivals can enter the UK without having to take a test.
Passenger locator forms must be completed within 72 hours of travel by anyone arriving in the UK, though other countries in Europe including Greece and Belgium have already ditched the requirement.
