Easter Holiday Travel Disruptions Across Roads, Rail, and Air

Easter Holiday Travel Disruptions Expected Across the UK

As the Easter holidays approach, travelers in the UK face significant disruptions across multiple forms of transport. Heavy traffic, rail closures, air delays, and ferry congestion are all expected to impact journeys over the Easter period, with some of the worst disruptions predicted from April 11-21.

The busiest roads will likely be the M6, M5, A303, and M25. Travel to popular destinations like Blackpool, the Lake District, and the Channel ports are expected to cause long delays. According to RAC breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson, “It’s more than likely that roads to popular holiday destinations will see their fair share of traffic. These are not only tiring to endure but increase fuel consumption significantly.”

Rail travel will also face major disruptions. Due to planned engineering works, key intercity routes will be closed, including the West Coast main line, which will be affected from April 19-21. Passengers traveling from London Euston to the northwest of England, North Wales, and Scotland will face reductions in service and rail replacement buses. Affected travelers are advised to prepare for longer journeys, particularly on Thursday, April 17, when many will try to avoid closures.

Airports are also bracing for significant disruptions, with staff shortages at air traffic control centers leading to flight delays, especially for routes to and from France and Spain. EasyJet, Britain’s biggest budget airline, has already seen more than 1,100 flights scheduled during peak travel times. Ryanair has reported that 36.2 million passengers were impacted by air traffic control restrictions last year, causing a rise in delays. Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, commented, “The shortage of air traffic controllers in France is 20-25 percent, which means many of our flights are going to be delayed.”

Ferry passengers should also expect delays, particularly at Dover, where traffic congestion is expected as school trips and holidaymakers head to France. New systems, such as early registration for school trips, aim to reduce congestion. The Port of Dover’s chief executive, Doug Bannister, mentioned, “We’ve got all of our planning in place, we’ve done all of our traffic predictions, we’ve provided all that information to partners around the port, including Police aux Frontières, and they have stepped up.”

With Easter travel set to be challenging, it’s important for travelers to plan ahead and prepare for delays on all forms of transport.