Worst days to fly from UK's biggest airports revealed with key dates to avoid this summer

With the summer holidays just around the corner, millions of Brits will be counting down the days until they jet off into the sun. Airports across the UK are anticipating millions of passengers during July and August, with terminals slated to be jampacked on certain days of the week.

According to research published by the Independent, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays at the UK's largest airports will be the busiest days as travellers set off and arrive back from holiday. Elsewhere, aviation data analyst Cirium has helped to figure out the ideal dates for a getaway by narrowing down which weeks each airport will likely see its largest crowds. These numbers can be crunched by analysing the UK's airports' own figures and Cirium's flight data.  

For Scottish holidaymakers, the second week of July will draw the biggest crowds, while several of England's most active airports can expect a surge of traffic in the final 10 days of July, when the schools have broken up.

But, the UK's only four airports which see 30-million-plus passengers annually, Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, will experience their busiest days in the second half of August.

And it's not just inside the airport where things pick up, as more flights mean busier runways.

Gatwick will see a plane land or take off an average of every 95 seconds around the clock on a couple of days in August – with just 65 seconds between departures and arrivals in peak hours.

Flying on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday will give you a better chance of beating the hectic crowds.

Airports such as Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow and Manchester will be busiest on Fridays, while Gatwick, Luton and Stansted experience more crowds on Sundays.

Elsewhere, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle runways see more action on Mondays.

Belfast International and Cardiff airports, Northern Ireland's and Wales' busiest airports, have passed their peak days for summer 2025, though the latter will see its busiest day for departures on August 28, with 2,684 passengers scheduled to fly.

September 1 will provide London City with its busiest day as 89 flights containing 9,195 passengers, will depart from the Docklands airport.

Friday July 11: Edinburgh

Scotland’s busiest airport will see 61,636 passengers pass through on July 11.

Monday July 14: Glasgow

Roughly 15,000 passengers will depart from the Clydeside airport on an expected 113 flights three days later, on the 14th.

Monday July 21: Newcastle

On Tyneside, the first Monday after the schools break up will see around 24,000 passengers take to the skies in 75 departing flights.

Friday July 25: Birmingham

July 25 will see 161 flights holding more than 26,000 people take off from the West Midlands hub on the final Friday of the month.

Sunday July 27: Luton

London’s fourth-biggest airport is slated to bear more than 31,000 passengers both arriving and departing on July 27.

But, August 1 will see the most departures from Luton while the final day of that month will see around 32,000 passengers land. 

Fridays 15 and 22 August: Bristol

The busiest airport in the South West will experience peak departures across July 25 and 26 while August 15 and 22, both Fridays, will see a whopping 40,000 holidaymakers coming and going.

But these two August Fridays will be the busiest days of the summer with around 40,000 people coming and going.

Sunday August 17: Gatwick

The Sussex holiday hub will spring to live during August with five days across this period which will see more than 900 flights take off.

It expects to see its biggest crowds on August 17 with a predicted 160,000 people passing through.

Friday 22 August: Manchester

About 115,000 passengers, evenly split between inbound and outbound, are expected to fly out of the nation’s third-busiest airport on August 22.

Monday 25 August: Liverpool

Cirium estimates departing flights and seats will be at a maximum for Liverpool on 28 July as 66 flights take place.

Friday 29 August: Heathrow

The aviation analyst also predicts that August 29, the final Friday of that month, at Heathrow will feature 658 flights with 151,155 seats, though the number of passengers is still unknown.

This may break the airport's record number of departing passengers which occured on August 18, 2024, which saw 269,000 recorded travellers, thought to be driven by Taylor Swift's Wembley Stadium shows.

Sunday 31 August: Stansted

Stansted is likely to have its busiest-ever month in August, with the final day being the busiest.

This follows the recent trend of the third Friday typically being the busiest day. But, Cirium reports the last day of the month will see 284 flights outbound with more than 54,000 seats.