Half-term holidaymakers are navigating the busiest day at British airports since the start of the Pandemic, with some hit by further flight cancellation, while cross-Channel ferry passengers are warned to expect long delays.

In the early morning hours of Friday, EasyJet axed 14 flights at London Gatwick in the wake of IT problems that took out 200 of its flights around Europe.

Early check-in lines had been cleared by the mid-morning, as the airport prepared for more than 800 flights and 120,000 passengers on Friday. Most of the schools in England and Wales will have half-term holidays this weekend.

The busiest day for leisure trips by road will be Saturday, with an estimated 17.9m trips made between Friday and Sunday.

Rod Dennis said that major routes to holiday destinations will start to jam up. If driving at dusk is a feasible option, an early start is always best.

At the start of the half-term, passengers were facing long lines at the port as they traveled to Europe.

The Port of Dover advised passengers to bring food and water as it was expecting a busy week. Irish Ferries warned of delays of up to three hours at port security and P&O Ferries warned of heavy traffic at border control. Passengers who miss sailings are usually accommodated on the next service.

According to data from the analysts, Friday will see the highest number of scheduled departures since March 2020, with almost 8,000 flights departing from UK airports this weekend.

Despite the increase in passenger numbers coming on the back of Thursday's cancellation chaos, Britain's airports said they were able to cope with the increased demand.

The check-in areas are the responsibility of the airlines, and following some issues earlier today all check-in areas are currently operating smoothly. One of the busiest days we have seen for some time, there has been no significant queue for security at the airport.

A small number of flights have been impacted this morning because of the IT problems that were fixed within a couple of hours on Thursday. Customers have the option to rebook or get a refund. We are very sorry for any disruptions.

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The airport said it was expecting a busy weekend but that security lines had been long on Friday and were moving quickly. The airport has taken on 200 new security officers in the last month.

Delays are likely to play out through half-term and could get worse in the summer holidays.

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of aviation workers, blamed airlines and airports for laying off employees during the Pandemic.

Sharon Graham said that they warned that corporate greed would cause chaos in the industry. There are chronic staff shortages after mass firings. Workers are voting with their feet because of the poor pay and conditions in the industry.