Busiest day of the winter for travel: What to expect from planes, trains and automobiles this Friday

23 December is peak departure day for millions

Friday will be the busiest day for airports including Luton (Getty Images)

Christmas 2016 is setting new records on planes and trains. With more travellers planning to flee the country than ever before over Christmas and New Year, many of the UK’s biggest airports are gearing up for their busiest day of the season on Friday. Research by The Independent suggest that 4.5 million British travellers will go abroad over Christmas and the New Year. But at home, Storm Barbara is already causing disruption, with worse expected on Friday. This is our guide to the pain points.

Airports

The peak day for outbound travel will be 23 December at many of the UK's busiest airports, including Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Edinburgh and Luton. (Heathrow, the biggest in Britain, had its peak day a week earlier.) Newcastle airport is anticipating one-third more travellers, both Birmingham and Luton are 21 per cent up, while Gatwick is predicting an 18 per cent increase in festive passengers on Friday.

Check-in areas and security checkpoints are likely to be extremely busy all day, and passengers are urged to help queues move faster by ensuring their hand baggage does not contain items such as wrapped presents, snow globes and jars of cranberry sauce over 100ml.

A threatened strike by airport workers at Swissport, due to begin on Friday, has been suspended with an improved offer being made to staff. But on the same day pilots working for Virgin Atlantic start a work-to-rule in a dispute over union recognition. They say they will work “strictly to contract”, which could involve refusing to be flexible in the event of disruption. Virgin Atlantic said it expects flights to be unaffected.

Railways

Eurostar, which runs trains through the Channel Tunnel, is expecting nine per cent more passengers than last Christmas. On Friday, its peak outbound day, more than 19,000 passengers are expected to leave London St Pancras to travel to Paris, Brussels and Lille. Queues at the entrance to the security check are likely to be long.

For rail travellers remaining in Britain, Friday set to be the busiest day on all the long-distance operators. There could be particular pressure on Greater Anglia, east from Liverpool Street, and GWR, which runs trains west from London Paddington. Engineering work means both termini will be closed from midnight on Friday, with horribly complicated journeys involving Tube trains and buses instead.

Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester will see not trains from London for the rest of the year, while until 29 December the Paddington trains will start and end at Ealing Broadway. Services to Bristol, the West Country and South Wales will be skeletal, and the Heathrow Express will be suspended.

No trains will run anywhere in Britain on 25 December, and very few will operate on Boxing Day. Long-distance services resume on the morning of 27 December, when the first wave of trains are likely to be extremely busy.

The continuing dispute about driver-operated doors on Southern will lead to cancellations, due to an overtime ban by drivers. Over New Year, conductors are staging a four-day strike.

Roads

The AA and RAC say Friday 23 December and Christmas Eve will be particularly busy on motorways and major roads. While Christmas Eve is expected to see the most "getaway" journeys, with 3.8 million planned, Friday will be busier in total, because the 3.5 million festive drivers will have to contend with the normally heavy traffic on the last working day before Christmas.

Some of those drivers will be heading to the Channel ports, and Traffic England has been warning of long delays on the M20/A20. Eurotunnel says its busiest day will be Friday, though numbers will be well below the peaks experienced in summer.

National Express is running throughout the festive season; although schedule are sharply reduced on Christmas Day, the coach firm will be running 50 per cent more services than last year.

Weather

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for strong winds across Scotland on Friday, with gusts of up to 90mph from the Clyde to Shetland. "Storm Barbara" is likely to affect flights and ferries. Northlink Ferries, which connects Aberdeen to Orkney and Shetland, is predicting cancellations, and is telling prospective passengers: "We would strongly recommend that any passenger booked for travel on 23 or 24 December consider alternative travel arrangements."