Christmas Day is for many a period of celebration and time with family. However, within aviation, it is often a busy day with flights proceeding as normal. Now, Eurocontrol (the Air Traffic Management organisation within Europe) has unveiled data on flights from 25 December 2023. Take a look with us as we explore!
A Look at the Data
There were a total of 15,298 flights through European airspace on Christmas Day. The three busiest countries were as follows:
- Spain with 2,638 flights (compared with 4,124 in Week 51 of the year)
- Turkiye with 2,423 flights (compared with 2,498 in Week 51 of the year)
- Germany with 2,409 flights (compared with 3,892 in Week 51 of the year)
The UK dropped down to 5th busiest on the 25th with 1,656 flights, down from 4,880 daily in Week 51 of the year.
Moving onto the busiest airports. The top three busiest airports were:
- iGA Istanbul Airport with 1,313 flights
- Amsterdam-Schiphol with 1,070 flights
- Paris Charles De-Gaulle Airport with 980 flights
Taking a look at the busiest airlines, the airline with the most flights was Turkish Airlines with 1,361 flights operated, up 9% from 2019. Following Turkish Airlines were:
- WizzAir with 879 flights
- Air France with 837 flights
- KLM Group with 768 flights
- Lufthansa Airlines with 691 flights
- Vueling with 572 flights
- easyJet Group with 544 flights
- Pegasus with 461 flights
- SWISS Group with 371 flights
- Iberia Group with 354 flights
Some Notable Absences
Notably absent from the data is two of the largest European Airlines; British Airways and Ryanair. The British Airways Group (encompassing British Airways, BA Euroflyer and BA Cityflyer) averaged 758 flights a day in week 51 of the year, but operated just 288 on Christmas day.
Also absent were the Ryanair Group (encompassing Ryanair, Malta Air and Buzz) who operated 2,626 flights a day in week 51, but operated precisely 0 on Christmas day. The 25 December is the one day the group does not fly.
Posting on LinkedIn, Ryanair Director of Talent, Mark Duffy, said:
“Delighted we are not Number 1 for once, the Ryanair group are one of the few airlines not to fly on christmas day allowing our people to enjoy the time with their family and friends, we also get our crews on the ground early on Christmas Eve…”
Have you ever flown on Christmas Day? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below!
