Glasgow Airport is preparing for its busiest weekend of the year so far as tens of thousands take to the skies for the summer holidays.
More than 165,000 passengers are expected to travel through the airport this weekend as the school holidays get underway. Airport staff expect to welcome more than a million Scots holidaymakers during the school summer holidays.
The majority of travellers will be heading for popular sunshine hotspots such as Alicante, the Canary Islands, Crete, Florida, Mexico, Turkey, Portugal and the Balearics. Other popular city break destinations include Barcelona, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, New York, Frankfurt and Venice.
Even more people will travel on Scotland’s busiest long-haul route – the Dubai double daily service – as a result of the additional capacity provided by the iconic A380 aircraft introduced earlier this year.
Additional staff will be on hand at peak times over the weekend to provide support and assurance for passengers as they prepare for check-in and security.
The airport will also be providing plenty of entertainment for young departing travellers to ensure their holidays get off to a fun start. This will include a kids’ fitness zone in the departures area, NERF war games, Highland dancing, performances from a rock choir and activity bags.
Despite the proposed strike action planned by some Unite members on Friday 28th and Sunday 30th of June, it will be business as usual for passengers travelling through the terminal on both days.
Mark Johnston, Glasgow Airport Managing Director, said: “There’s always a great atmosphere in terminal, particularly as the school term has come to an end and thousands of families arrive at the airport ahead of their holidays.
“This weekend is sure to be one of our busiest ever and we’ll have plenty of activities to help keep the children occupied.
“Given that the airport will be busier than usual during what is our biggest weekend this year, we would encourage passengers to allow enough time for check-in and to ensure they are prepared for the security area and have their boarding passes ready.
“All liquids, gels and pastes carried in hand luggage should be 100ml or less and carried in a 20cm x 20cm clear plastic bag, which should be presented out-with their hand luggage at the security check point.
“Passengers should also organise their hand luggage appropriately before they go through our X-Ray machines, which means removing laptops and other large electrical equipment from their bags and placing them flat and unobstructed in the tray along with smaller items such as keys, coins, watched and phones.
“Small steps such as these really help to ensure our passengers pass through security as quickly and smoothly as possible so they can relax and enjoy the start of their holiday.
“Although some of our staff who are members of Unite have chosen our busiest period of the year to stage further industrial action, I wanted to take this opportunity to once again reassure our passengers that the strike days which have taken place to date have caused minor disruption, if any at all. Glasgow Airport remains open, fully operational and our number one priority is to ensure our passengers continue to get on their summer holidays without any disruption.”