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The half-term getaway and large numbers of visitors to the island mean it is set to be the busiest weekend of the year so far for Jersey Airport.
Although more than 21,000 passengers are set to pass through the airport between today and Monday, yesterday evening's BA service from Heathrow was cancelled, leading to today's early morning return flight from Jersey being axed, and there will be a further BA flight in each direction cancelled on Sunday, next Thursday and Sunday 4 June.
BA said the cancellations of some short-haul services had been caused by "the knock-on effect of a technical issue" experienced yesterday, adding that it had apologised to affected customers and offered alternative flights with BA or another airline, or a refund.
Other travellers should face a less troubled journey than was the situation at the end of March, when a series of flights were cancelled and high winds caused delays of up to eight hours on Friday 31 March – the last day of the spring term.
The busiest period for the airport will be on Saturday afternoon, with 20 flights set to depart between 12:15 and 16:40, and passengers have been advised to allow extra time for journeys to the airport.
Ports of Jersey said the previous busiest weekend of 2023 had been Easter, with 18,324 passengers passing through the airport across the four-day period – 2,766 fewer than the number forecast for this weekend.
Data from aviation analytics company Cirium, highlighted in the national media, said today would be the busiest for UK airports since 20 December 2019, with 3,000 flights set to depart. Across the long weekend, Cirium stated there would be 11,350 flight departures, equating to two million seats.
Islanders who are staying at home for the bank holiday weekend, as well as visitors, are set to enjoy some fine weather, with temperatures due to break the 20°C barrier for the first time since mid-October.
Forecaster Jodie Stock said: “The weekend should be dry, with no risk of rain, it's just a question of how much cloud we see – there'll be some higher cloud, more so on Sunday, which will make the sunshine a bit hazy and keep the temperatures at around 21°C.
“We will keep the current north-east wind, and it will be strengthening late on Sunday and across Monday, with the sea state looking "rather rough to rough" on Monday.”
The warmest days of 2023 so far saw maximum readings of 19.7°C on 2 May and 19.6°C yesterday.
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