LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Easter holiday has officially begun for travelers heading to London for the season's highlights.
About 100,000 people from around the globe have already jetted off on British Airways last weekend with another 95,000 expected to travel on the airline's network Thursday, April 21.
With the Easter and Mayday bank holidays as well as the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, flights between the airline's key U.S. and European destinations are filling up quickly now through the beginning of May.
"It's been estimated that London will welcome more than 600,000 additional visitors on the Royal Wedding day," said Simon Talling-Smith, Executive Vice President Americas, British Airways. "Though the city is absolutely abuzz with excitement as a result of the event, people are definitely not shying away from traveling that day since we have more than 80,000 travelers booked on flights on April 29."
With giant screens set up around the city to show live coverage of the wedding event, crowds are expected to celebrate with informal street parties and pub gatherings as the world watches and experiences the procession.
Many of the Royal watchers are Americans traveling from the U.S., who have maintained a longstanding fascination of the monarchy. Currently, the U.S. is sweeping the board for most popular longhaul destination with New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Miami topping the list, closely followed by Johannesburg.
Nearer to the UK, Edinburgh, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam are proving most popular.
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