Great Christmas getaway begins with millions set to go abroad this year In addition over the period from tomorrow to the end of Christmas Eve 52,000 will fly from Edinburgh airport and 56,000 from Bristol. British Airways expects tomorrow to be its busiest day of the holiday season when it will handle 111,0000 passengers. On Christmas Day, there will be 31,000 people flying with the airline on 58 planes which will travel more than 500,000 meals between them. The airline expects to serve 60,000 mince pies - smothered by one tonne of single cream - on long-haul flights from Heathrow. Rail passengers, who were facing the threat of a grim strike-ridden Christmas, were given a respite with the RMT reaching agreement with ScotRail and suspending its action on Arriva CrossCountry, the operator which runs services linking provincial cities from Penzance to Aberdeen. In London a strike by ASLEF, which represents 60 per cent of tube drivers, is expected ahead on Boxing Day. This has already led to the postponement of the London derby between West Ham United and Arsenal. Nevertheless trains on long distance services were packed with Virgin deploying staff at Euston Station to handle the throng. Passengers without reservations were warned they could not be guaranteed a place on a train on the busiest routes to the North West and Scotland. On state-run East Coast, which runs services from King's Cross to north east England and Scotland, additional services have been laid on to ensure no passengers are turned away. The company says it has take 202,100 reservations, an increase of 3.6 per cent compared with last year. Network Rail has scaled back engineering work, but over the Christmas holiday the West Coast Main Line to north west England will face some disruption because of engineering works. But overall the Association of Train Operating Companies says the number of replacement buses have been halved compared to the same time last year. Elsewhere Eurostar is expecting to handle 160,000 passengers who will travel to the continent by rail. On the roads around 13 million motorists started their getaway today according to the AA, with the numbers expected to reach 15 million tomorrow and Saturday. The busiest roads this weekend are predicted to be the M25, the M6 in the West Midlands, the M1 near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, the M5 near Bristol and the M62 near Warrington in Cheshire. The Highways Agency has suspended 21 roadworks schemes covering 57 miles of motorways. Another 19 major schemes, covering 98.1 miles will remain in place, with the biggest delay likely on the M25 stretch near Godstone, Surrey.