Bristol Airport live updates as queues dubbed 'worst we've ever seen' after weekend of disruption

UK airports are expected to be extremely busy this week as the half-term and Jubilee holidays get underway. Disruption was reported at several airports over the weekend, with scenes at Bristol Airport described as being like a "zoo".

More than 10,000 flights are due to depart from UK airports between Thursday and Sunday, according to aviation data firm Cirium. That is a three-fold increase on the same period last year, when the UK's coronavirus travel restrictions remained in place.

But thousands of families have seen their half-term holidays disrupted as easyJet cancelled more than 200 flights to or from Gatwick over a 10-day period. Tui has also axed a number of flights. Some families even had their holiday to Egypt cancelled on Sunday as they arrived at Bristol Airport.

Devastated mum Rachel Honey Jones told BBC Wales on Monday that there were lots of tears as parents broke the news to their children that their holiday was not going to go ahead. She said: "Nightmare doesn't even begin to describe it. We has pulled up to the airport, just got to drop off and go for our first family holiday in over three years and it was just absolute chaos.

"It still said that the holiday was happening, so people were still lining up. And then I checked my phone and there was an email saying sorry, your holiday's cancelled."

As spokesman for Bristol Airport told WalesOnline: “The Bristol Airport team and business partners are working hard to ensure all customers have a smooth and easy journey through the terminal. For early morning flight departures we are seeing customers arriving five hours prior to flight departure, adding to the congestion in the terminal. This is something we have not experienced before. When customers are queuing