Abta said 248,000 people are expected to fly out of Heathrow on Friday alone, while Manchester airport is expecting 103,000 in a 24-hour period

A further 311,000 people are expected to use Gatwick over the entire weekend with a further 150,000 expected to use Stansted. Meanwhile Bristol airport is predicting 55,000 people will use the facility over the weekend while East Midlands are predicting 47,000.

Popular destinations include Spain, Orlando and France while domestically both Scotland and Ireland are popular.

Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “This weekend is the traditional curtain closer for the peak summer months and it is always a very busy weekend for travel, with millions taking advantage of the long weekend to head off overseas. 

“With the roads predicted to be extremely busy, holidaymakers should make sure that they leave plenty of time to get to their port of departure.”