My word the airports in May were grim.  Because the pandemic had caused airlines to revisit how they retained staff during pandemics, many of the cheaper end of the market find themselves without enough staff to do each plane.  The airlines accepted furlough cash from the Treasury to offset the cost of paying staff salaries but there was much underhand activity in the following year when we were suddenly all able to return to our old habits and hop out to the shops or go on a quickie flying break.  The employers had, in their housands, then released their excess workers for whom these bottomless lockdowns were keeping at home.  Holidays, gifts and other shoping suddenly had to take on military campaign style thought processes to get anything booked at all.  The upshot now is that every major national company has changed their store or outlet only to online only with help on holiday purchases coming by way of a computerised pal.