British Airways is expecting a staggering 626,735 people to fly with the airline over the coming May Bank Holiday weekend, in a bid to bask in the sun now that summer is on its way.

UK holiday makers look set to make the most of the five days from tomorrow to May 25th to get some much-needed sun.

The busiest days are expected to be Thursday, May 21st, with 134,337 customers flying with the airline and on Monday, May 25th when 135,523 people will take to the skies.

This is a ten per cent increase over the same period last year.

Stephen Humphreys, British Airways’ head of UK&I sales and marketing, said: “With our fleet of 280 aircraft flying a staggering five and a half million miles across four thousand individual flights over the long weekend, the May Bank Holiday weekend is a huge logistical challenge.

“But we go that extra mile to ensure our customers travel in comfort and style to enjoy a stress-free break, on one of British Airways’ many new routes to the sun.”

This year the airline launched new routes to Bilbao, Corfu, Kos, Krakow, Olbia and Split from Heathrow.

And from Gatwick the airline has launched new routes to Bodrum, Cagliari, Dalaman, Heraklion, Madeira, Rhodes and Seville.

British Airways is due to launch its new long-haul route to Kuala Lumpur on May 27th, with short-haul flights from London City to Mykonos starting on June 29th and a day later to Santorini.

Later in the year, flights from Gatwick to Sharm El Sheikh start on September 14th and on September 17th to Vienna.

New routes from Heathrow include flights to Reykjavik in Iceland on October 25th and to Salzburg on December 5th.