New York tops the Christmas charts

Britons are continuing to flock to New York in an overwhelming display of support for the city following the tragic events of September 11.

Latest figures from British Airways show that New York is once again the top longhaul destination this Christmas.

Bolstered by promotional fares from British Airways, support for the Big Apple remains high with over 30,000 festive flyers travelling to the city over the holiday period.

British air travellers’ "special relationship" with the US continues elsewhere with Los Angeles and Miami the second and third most popular destination after New York.

British Airways director of marketing Martin George said: "These latest figures are a clear demonstration that the British public’s confidence to fly is coming back. It’s still an incredibly tough market but people are clearly determined to show support to our friends across the Atlantic."

British Airways staff will be working around the clock over the festive period helping to unite friends, families and loved ones over the holiday period with nearly one million passengers passing through London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.

Paris is top of the European destinations, followed closely by Glasgow and Geneva. New entries to the top ten include Manchester, Edinburgh and Berlin.

On Christmas Day there will be 44 flights operating from London Heathrow and 7 from London Gatwick.

For the "supersonic" travellers, Barbados is top of the hotspots with flights packed full in the lead up to Christmas. An extra Concorde service to Barbados has been added on Christmas Eve to ensure that travellers don’t miss out on some winter sunshine.

Barbados is also topping the charts at British Airways Holidays, followed by Mauritius, St Lucia and Antigua.

Not everyone will be favouring a traditional turkey feast on Christmas Day. British Airways World Cargo will be busy in the two week run up to Christmas, transporting 113 tonnes of seafood, lobster, clams and prawns to France and other European cities.

Lego is always a festive favourite at Christmas and this year British Airways World Cargo has carried 163 tonnes from Denmark to the UK, including this years best selling toy, the Harry Potter Hogwart Castle lego set.

Passengers will be treated to a "bumper package" of festive fun onboard with a choice of TV Christmas entertainment including the newly released animated version of the Dickens classic, Christmas Carol, featuring the vocal talents of Kate Winslet. Due to the high volume of younger travellers this year there will be a feast of family entertainment ranging from Willy Wonker and the Chocolate factory to Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Top 10 Christmas Destinations - LONGHAUL (Last year’s rank in brackets)

1. New York (1)
2. Los Angeles (5)
3. Miami (3)
4. Johannesburg (4)
5. Singapore (2)
6. Hong Kong (8)
7. San Francisco (new entry)
8. Bombay (new entry)
9. Sydney (new entry)
10. Vancouver (new entry)

Top 10 Christmas Destinations - SHORTHAUL (Last year’s rank in brackets)

1. Paris (1)
2. Glasgow (new entry)
3. Geneva (3)
4. Manchester (new entry)
5. Edinburgh (new entry)
6. Berlin (new entry)
7. Rome (5)
8. Zurich (10)
9. Barcelona (7)
10. Madrid (2)