Easter holidaymakers are already facing chaos as dozens of planes across major airports have been grounded due to the French Air Traffic Control strikes,

Queuing at the Port of Dover as they attempt to travel abroad for the long weekend has also already begun.  

P&O and DFDS, the Port of Dover’s main ferry operators, reported long queues at the Port, and warned customers to expect waits of up to an hour. The Port of Dover has insisted that these are average waits for this time of the year.

All eyes will be on the port over the coming days, with the Port of Dover and its ferry operators keen to avoid the chaos of last weekend, which saw some holidaymakers forced to wait up to 18 hours in queues for their ferries.

The port unveiled its plan to try and avoid similar chaos this weekend, including increasing the number of passport check areas, bringing in extra border staff and overhauling the coach schedule.

The change to the schedule has seen some pre-booked coach operators forced to move their bookings to earlier or later ferries, meaning some holidaymakers could have their trips cut short. Coach sector sources have said that the mitigation plans have worked well so far, with re-bookings suffering no major issues.

More than 25pc of flights cancelled, say Ryanair 

Meanwhile, airlines at the France's major airports are having to delays with the fallout of yet more strikes in France, with a walk-out by Air Traffic Control workers having a knock on impact to planned routes.

British Airways cancelled around 20 flights from Heathrow on Thursday, while Easyjet and Ryanair have also had to halt certain routes.

Ryanair said that last weekend it saw 25 per cent of its scheduled flights cancelled because of the French strike action, and expected more cancellations today. A total of 4,300 flights were cancelled because of the action last week alone.

More cancellations are promised in the coming weeks, with Air Traffic Controllers vowing to strike throughout April in response to pension reform and pay concerns.

The French strikes also resulted in two Eurostar services between London and Paris being cancelled this morning.

Elsewhere, planned rail upgrades will severely restrict the routes available across the country’s network this weekend, with Network Rail warning passengers to check timetables before they travel.

Among the routes to be affected will be the service between London and Milton Keynes, with no trains running across the whole weekend, while Avanti West Coast services not going to Glasgow. Around five per cent of the network will be out of action, with more irregular services running throughout the weekend.

Earlier in the week, the RAC warned that Good Friday could turn bad, with more than 17m people expected to hit the roads tomorrow.

Research by RAC and analytics firm INRIX estimated that nearly 3m people would be using the roads for Easter getaways, with major roads in the South West and Home Counties expected to be worse hit.

Bob Pishue, INRIX Transportation Analyst, said  the firm expected a large jump in congestion around popular destinations, with travel times expected to increase by 25 per cent.