Thousands of passengers look to get away for Christmas and the New Year via LJLA

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) is once again gearing up for the great Christmas and New Year ‘Getaway’, with over 100,000 passengers expected to pass through the Airport over the festive and New Year holiday period.

With many schools finishing for Christmas on Thursday, families from across the region are expected to start to head off on flights from Liverpool on Friday onwards. Many will be setting off 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.

As usual, popular flights for passengers over the coming days are expected to be Winter ski destinations such as Geneva, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Grenoble, The Canary Islands and southern Spain for some warmer Winter weather and City break destinations including many with famous Christmas markets such as Berlin, Krakow and Copenhagen.

Ryanair expect Friday 20th to be their busiest day over the festive period, while easyJet’s will be Sunday 22nd, with the airline carrying 3,000 passengers from Liverpool on this day alone.

Christmas is also a popular time for passengers to fly via LJLA to visit family and friends, with many passengers taking advantage of the great value for money flights available.

Helping to put passengers in the holiday mood, the Airport will be staging one of its regular ‘Funday Friday’ events on 20th December, with a mini Christmas grotto in the departure lounge and a DJ entertaining passengers with popular Christmas songs. Airport staff have even managed to persuade Santa to be on hand to listen to any last minute Christmas wishes from passengers young and old on their way through the Airport, before he too flies off, back to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas Eve.

All visitors to see Santa will also be able to pick up some great prizes including free flights from Santa’s sack, while many retailers at the Airport such as World Duty Free and WHSmiths have special Christmas offers and free samples for passengers to take advantage of too. The Kissing Gate bar and restaurant will even have mistletoe for all those holiday romantics!

LJLA Management are 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. Passengers are also reminded to think carefully about what items they are intending to pack in hand luggage, before they set off for the Airport – especially those who are travelling with presents for friends and relatives.

To avoid disappointment at the security search point and to help keep security queues to a minimum, passengers are being asked to travel with their presents unwrapped if they are to be carried in hand luggage.

Robin Tudor, Head of PR for LJLA commented, “This is always a special time of the year for both our passengers and our staff here at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. This year we’re really trying to help get passengers in the festive mood though with our ‘Funday Friday’ event.

“With Santa here to listen to any last minute Christmas wishes, we expect there to be a great atmosphere for everyone, with some lucky passengers leaving with great prizes too.

“We also want to remind all passengers to help us to help them and avoid some of the disappointment we have seen in previous years when passing through airport security by allowing plenty of time, coming prepared and thinking about what they are carrying in their hand luggage.”