World Timelapse

NUMBER OF SCHEDULED FLIGHTS EACH DAY (WORLDWIDE)

TOP 10 GLOBAL CITIES FOR ARRIVALS

US cities make up half of the top 10 list as far as festive flight arrival numbers are concerned. This includes New York in first place with 7,596 arrivals, Chicago in second with 6,678, Atlanta in fourth with 5,254, and 5,157 arrivals putting Dallas in fifth.

London is the busiest city outside the US; its 6,007 arrivals land the UK capital in third place. Shanghai makes an appearance in sixth with 4,402 arrivals, closely followed by Moscow in seventh place with 4,379.

Europe Timelapse

NUMBER OF SCHEDULED DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS EACH DAY (UK)

UK FLIGHT DATA

Christmas is a big deal here in the UK, which is why we seem to begin the countdown earlier every year. 10,888 flights to the UK are scheduled between 21st and 25th December, meaning a stunning 1,825,728 will land in time for the nation's favourite time of the year.

8,163 of these will be international arrivals touching down from Spain, USA, and Germany. As you would expect, London Heathrow and London Gatwick will be the airports most packed with eager travellers, with 2,795 and 1,479 flights scheduled to arrive during the festive period respectively. Manchester lands in third place with 991 flights coming in between 21st and 25th December.

It's a similar story for UK departures, with a total of 10,994 flights leaving the country to spend Christmas Day with family somewhere else in the world.

US Timelapse

NUMBER OF SCHEDULED DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS EACH DAY (US)

US FLIGHT DATA

If there's one country in the world that can compete with the UK when it comes to going OTT at Christmas, it's America. But, as the US is approximately 40 times bigger than the UK, there's no competition when it comes to the amount of flights arriving during the 'holidays'.

During the five days before Christmas, no fewer than 118,844 flights will be arriving across the country – over 10 times that of the UK. Altogether, more than 14 million people will be heading to somewhere in the US in time for Christmas. Most of these flights, however, are domestic with 107,449 currently scheduled internally, while 11,395 flights will be arriving from overseas.

Looking at the busiest US airports for arrivals over Christmas, Chicago's O'Hare International tops the list with 5,460 flights, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International isn't far behind in second place with 5,253 arrivals. California's LAX lands in third with 4,269 arrivals, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth International in fourth.

WHY HAVE WE DONE THIS?

“The best Christmas gift of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another.” – Helen Keller, American author

At Buyagift, we understand giving loved ones something special at Christmas is an essential part of the festive season, but we also know spending time with our nearest and dearest is priceless.

We wanted to visualise just how important this is around the world by showing the lengths people go to, quite literally, over the five days ahead of Christmas in order to be with their loved ones at the most magical time of the year.

SOURCE

Flight data purchased from OAG Aviation and correct as of 10/10/2018. Flight data may be subject to change after this date. Data was available for 450 airports across the world and includes all scheduled flights. The data is subject to change due to extra bookings.

PRESS

Download press release