Tens of thousands of people are taking advantage of British Airways’ network to more than 150 destinations to get away over the holiday period.

The great escape will begin in earnest on Thursday, December 22, 2011 as a peak 95,000 customers jet off around the globe with the airline. Even Christmas Day will see nearly 30,000 people travelling, thanks to British Airways’ 365 day-a-year operation.

Thousands of British Airways staff including cabin crew, pilots and customer service staff will be looking after customers all over the world. Homebound customers peak on January 2, 2012 with 94,000 people flying on the airline’s network.

The top ten destinations for Christmas and New Year are:

New York

Geneva

Edinburgh

Barcelona

Manchester

Glasgow

Miami

Dubai

Cape Town

Amsterdam

Richard Tams, head of UK&I sales, said: “Christmas is an exceptionally busy time of year for us and we’ve already welcomed tens of thousands of customers on board. December 22 is our next peak with people maximising their time off and we’re looking forward to carrying half a million people home in the first week of the new year.”