Chocks away for the Christmas exodus

A staggering 1.6 million people are jetting away with British Airways across the peak festive period (December 17 to January 4) putting the doom and gloom of 2008 behind them for Christmas.

The top longhaul destinations include the ever-popular New York (JFK), closely followed by Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Dubai and Washington. Most popular shorthaul routes are Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Geneva, and Nice.

Domestic destinations Edinburgh and Glasgow remain firm favourites for a Christmas getaway.

The busiest day is Friday, December 19, when almost 105,000 customers are travelling with the airline.

Some 7,500 flights will operate through Terminal 5 over the Yule time period taking the total number of travellers through the building to over 15 million. Over 1,500 flights will operate through Gatwick over the same period.

British Airways is also serving up at least 38,000 Christmas dinners with turkey and all the trimmings plus 60,000 helpings of Christmas cake and 8,500 servings of rich chocolate log.