Festive flight: 1.5 million on the move for Christmas

MORE than one and a half million people were boarding trains, planes and automobiles as the annual exodus for Christmas began.

More than 1.1 million passengers are expected to pass through Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports over the holidays, many of them Irish emigrants returning home and immigrants leaving our shores to re-unite with family.

There were scenes of jubilation at all the airports yesterday as people gathered around the arrival gates, while others smiled as they marched through departure lounges homeward-bound or else off to sunny climes for a break.