Storm Barbara threatens flight disruption over Christmas weekend
EasyJet is warning of possible disruptions to its flights this weekend as Storm Barbara approaches.
Gale force winds are forecast for the North of England and Scotland and threaten to bring transport chaos in the lead up to Christmas.
Easyjet said it plans to operate its full schedule expects some delays and disruption throughout Friday and Saturday.
"The winds will be at their highest Friday afternoon through to Saturday morning, which could affect our ground handling operation," it told passengers.
"When the winds are past certain limits we are not able to open the aircraft doors or move the steps to or from the aircraft, so when we land we might have to leave passengers on board for a little while until the winds die down.
"The winds are likely to be in and out of limits for us to land at the most northerly airports throughout the day which could cause diversions to nearby airports. Please be assured that if we divert any flights we will arrange to take passengers to their chosen arrival airport by coach."
It said it was keeping a close eye on the changing forecast and will keep passengers updated as the forecast becomes more clear.
ABTA estimates that more than 4.5 million passengers will head abroad over the Christmas and New Year period (from December 18 to January 2), including hundreds of thousands of passengers from Scottish airports.
Its says 238,000 will be travelling through Edinburgh alone, as well as large numbers leaving from other regional airports.
The peak travel day is predicted to be Friday December 23.
ABTA is advising travellers to leave extra time to get to the airports as the roads will be extremely busy, and to check in advance for any travel restrictions if using public transport.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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