The annual Christmas Homecoming for thousands of Northern Ireland’s expats and travellers has begun, marking our airports’ busiest season of the year.
As Christmas magic filled the air, families and friends reunited at Belfast City Airport this morning as flights from Birmingham, Aberdeen and Edinburgh brought hundreds of Northern Irish expats home.
Julia Hearte and her 4-year-old daughter Aurelia reunited with family upon their return from Aberdeen, Scotland. Aurelia was seen excitedly dropping everything to run to her grandparents as the arrivals door opened.
Aurelia Hearte (4) runs to meet her Grand parents after arriving at Belfast City Airport with her mother Julia, left, for the Christmas holidays, Friday, Dec. 2024. (Picture by Peter Morrison)
However, the family reunion was almost cancelled, with difficulties with weather conditions threatening their travel plans.
“We were meant to fly on Sunday but the airline wrote to us and said it’s not going to happen on Sunday so either come early or you might not make it. So we’ve rushed around to make it here today.”
When asked what she misses from home when she’s away, Ms Hearte said: “Everything, home’s home, there’s nowhere like it.”
Mother and son Heather and Peter Hemphill were reunited after Peter emigrated to Australia last year.
Peter Hemphill greets his mother Heather after arriving at Belfast City Airport for the Christmas holidays, Friday, Dec. 2024. (Picture by Peter Morrison)
“It’s been about a year since I’ve been home. You know, I’ve missed my family, I’ve missed my mum, it’s nice to see her again.”
It took Peter almost 30 hours to reach Northern Ireland. Luckily he didn’t encounter any weather difficulties but at one point during the journey his bag was lost.
University student Ben Crawford had an emotional reunion with his mum after 3 months — his longest time away from home.
During the journey from Aberdeen, he faced slight turbulence, but took it in his stride: “Turbulence was a wee bit bad, but that’s just our weather”.
Emma Crawford greets her son Ben Crawford at Belfast City Airport as people arrive home for the Christmas holidays. Picture by Peter Morrison
When asked what he was most excited for in the festive period, he replied “spending time with my family — 100%”.
Despite storms disrupting Christmas travel in previous years, today’s passengers have largely avoided adverse weather conditions. However, weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office as rain and disruptive winds of up to 85mph are expected to hit Christmas travellers this weekend.
A yellow wind warning has been released for the weekend, covering a large swathe of Northern Ireland along with Scotland, Wales and western England.
As passengers made their way into the arrivals lounge, they were greeted with delightful Christmas tunes in the form of The airport’s choir The Belfast City Belters who played festive classics with fun flair.
Playing classics such as ‘Feliz Navidad’ and ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ the entourage impressed travellers with their matching red t-shirts, Santa hats and jolly singing.
A local pianist was also seen tickling the ivories as passengers made their way into the terminal.
Michelle Hatfield, chief people and marketing officer at Belfast City Airport says that the hustle and bustle of the festive season means that this is their busiest period of the year.
Michelle Hatfield, Chief People & Marketing Officer at Belfast City Airport. Picture by Peter Morrison
“Today we’ll be welcoming around 10,000 passengers throughout the day.”
“We’ve really embraced the season, we have a pianist playing and the piano is available for the public to play a tune, we have Santa and his elves here also.”
Although the busy season can put stress on the different teams in the airport, she says that the team places importance on safety and maintaining high standards which are set throughout the year.
“We’re also very conscious that with it being our busiest day to ensure that our operational teams across the airport are prepared for that and to make sure that journey is a safe and efficient one for all of our passengers.”
“It takes a bit of preparation time across our teams to ensure that we are ready for that, but also it’s really important for our staff and families that we make that an enjoyable experience as well, and having all the festive activities adds to that Christmas atmosphere.”
Passengers were spotted with festive green boxes as they walked through the departure doors to meet friends and family.
The festive packages which said “Welcome home for Christmas” emerged from luggage carousels with their baggage.
They feature a taste of Northern Ireland, full to the brim of festive treats and local favourites like Veda bread and Tayto crisps.
Communications Manager for SuperValu and Centra Carol Marshall said: “We wanted to come down today to welcome people home for Christmas and get them into that festive spirit really, to spread a bit of goodwill”.