East Midlands Airport expects sharp drop in festive passengers

Bosses at East Midlands Airport have said they "will be lucky" to see half of the normal volume of passengers during the festive period.

It usually sees about 6,000 people a day at the start of Christmas week.

But Covid restrictions and fears over the Omicron variant have seen a big reduction in numbers.

Claire James, the airport's managing director, called for clarity from the government saying the industry could not take a third summer of disruption.

Ms James said: "Consumer confidence has taken a knock. The lack of clarity and the uncertainty around government restrictions has undermined confidence.

"People just don't want to book because they are not clear on the rules, they are not clear what's going to happen.

"What we need is a real roadmap like every other sector seems to have so that as we get into 2022, people can book with confidence.

"We can't take a third summer of this."

Restrictions on travel from the UK into Germany and France have already affected the ski season.

Ms James said: "The latest variant has pulled the rug from under us. We thought we were coming out of this.

"At October half-term we saw 50% of pre-Covid numbers and we really felt optimistic about Christmas.

"Now we will be lucky to get to that, we have that number booked but we have had a lot of no-shows over the past few days."

Tara Hoyland, who was at the airport to travel to Lanzarote with her family, said: "It's not busy at all, it's been really straightforward.

"The situation is a worry but we have put everything in place, we've all had three jabs, we are looking forward to some sun."

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