A MASS exodus from Glasgow of VIPs, athletes, officials and spectators will begin in earnest today, potentially causing more disruption on the roads and transport networks.

Thousands of people are expected to fly out of the city or hit the road and rail network to return home.

Some sportsmen and women and their supporters left at the weekend after their events finished, but most will leave today and tomorrow.

Glasgow Airport is due to see several thousands of extra passengers pass through over the next few days - during what is already a busy time of year.

The airport experienced a setback yesterday afternoon when two planes due to land had to be diverted because of bad weather.

The aircraft, one flying from Split, Croatia, the other from Palma, Majorca, landed and ­refuelled at Edinburgh and ­Prestwick respectively and later flew safely to Glasgow after the weather improved.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said some Games visitors had already flown out but staff were gearing up for thousands of extra passengers to pass through the terminal over the next few days.

He said: "The exit so far has gone well. A number of teams have already departed, but we are expecting the bulk of the departures to take place after tonight's Closing Ceremony - the majority tomorrow."

He added: "There will be a few thousand extra passengers departing over the next couple of days.

"There have been very few chartered flights and the majority of passengers will be leaving on scheduled flights. There will also be a few VIP movements tomorrow and Tuesday.

"The atmosphere in the airport has been great, with Clydesiders based at the airport helping travellers arriving and departing."

A spokesman for Network Rail, which operates Glasgow's Central Station, said he expected the number of people passing through the building to be double that of a usual Monday, reaching about 200,000 today.

He added: "We are expecting the station to be very, very busy. We will have lots of people heading for the cross-border services and others travelling to other parts of Scotland.

"People should give themselves plenty of time to get to the station and also plenty of time to get to their train once in the station."

After yesterday's downpours the weather was expected to be fine today, allowing travellers to head off on time and in safe conditions.

Heavy rain lashed the city for most of the morning and early afternoon as visitors and local enjoyed the last day of the Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow Airport remained open throughout.

Train operator Scotrail put on extra services between Glasgow and the capital.

Additional services operated between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh via Falkirk High with two late-night, non-stop trains running from Glasgow Central direct to Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley.

A nine-coach "queuebuster" service also left Glasgow Central at 12.03am calling at Motherwell, Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley.

A spokeswoman for ScotRail said: "We would like to say a huge thank you to customers for their patience, support and goodwill during what was the busiest 11 days in the history of Scotland's railways."

Virgin Trains, which operates a service from Glasgow Central to London Euston, said two extra carriages would be put on all of its London-bound services, with each train taking up to 240 additional passengers.

A spokeswoman for Virgin said extra staff would also be helping passengers onto trains in Glasgow and would be handing out ice lollies and bottles of water to keep people hydrated.

Two additional employees will be working today at Glasgow Central and Preston station to help with luggage, she said.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow city council urged visitors to stay and enjoy the city and not to hurry home.

She said: "We would love it if visitors extended their stay, took time to relax after the sporting action and continued to sample what our wonderful city has to offer - there is plenty of time to travel later."