Britain’s
tardiest airlines and airports have been named. In June, July and August 2015
and 2016, passengers flying to or from Gatwick airport departed or arrived an
average of 27 minutes late, while travellers on Britain’s biggest budget
airline, easyJet, were an average of 24 minutes behind schedule.
The BBC Data Unit
analysed Civil Aviation Authority figures on flights
to and from UK airports for British and Irish airlines.
Among airlines, Aer Lingus performed best, with an average delay of just 12
minutes, while its giant Irish rival, Ryanair, was 15 minutes behind schedule
on average.
Best performing UK airline was Flybe, at 13 minutes. Monarch (15 minutes)
and Jet2 (16) were slightly more punctual than their tour-operator rivals,
Thomson (17) and Thomas Cook (19).
British Airways was third-tardiest at 18 minutes, though its CityFlyer
subsidiary averaged only 14 minutes behind schedule.
Of the biggest airports, the 27-minute average delay at Gatwick was almost
matched by Luton, at 24 minutes.
Other big airports performed significantly better: Edinburgh and Birmingham
were on 18 minutes, Manchester, Glasgow and Stansted on 17, and Heathrow on 16.
Leeds/Bradford and George Best Belfast City shared the honours with an average
delay of just 10 minutes.
The summers of 2015 and 2016 were blighted by French air-traffic control
strikes, which affected Gatwick and easyJet disproportionately. The Sussex hub
is the closest major airport to France, restricting options for avoiding the
airspace.
A large proportion of easyJet flights normally pass over France. A
spokesperson for the airline said: “Despite a number of adverse external
factors like increasingly congested airspace, particularly in the London area,
and record numbers of Air Traffic Control strikes, over the last year, easyJet
has actually reduced the proportion of flights delayed by more than
three hours.
“We work hard to minimise disruption and fully comply with all relevant
regulations.”
A spokesperson for Gatwick told the BBC: “We recognise the inconvenience
that delays cause to our passengers, and we will continue to do everything
possible to prevent them from occurring.
“Gatwick has made it a priority to address punctuality and, in partnership
with our airlines and ground handlers, we are already seeing the benefits of a
new wide range of measures that have been implemented to improve punctuality.”
According to Independent stats the top 20 UK airports for delays (average lateness in
minutes).
The
top 20 UK airports for delays (average lateness in minutes)
1 Gatwick 27
2 Luton 24
3 Jersey 21
4 Belfast International 20
5 = Edinburgh 18
6 = Birmingham 18
7 = Manchester 17
8 = Glasgow 17
9 = Stansted 17
10 = Heathrow 16
11 = Bristol 16
12 = Cardiff 16
13 = Doncaster Sheffield 16
14 = Southampton 16
15 = Southend 15
16 = Liverpool
17 Aberdeen 14
18 = Newcastle 13
19 = East Midlands 13
20 = London City 13
The travel industry makes a loss for most of the year, and gets it back (and
turns a profit) only in summer, when prices are high.
Many passengers were delayed by less than these figures, but some were
seriously behind schedule – with one in five flights leaving more than
half-an-hour late.
The figures
for summer 2017 are still being recorded. But with passenger numbers, flight
movement and, therefore, congestion being at an all-time high, there is
unlikely to be a significant improvement.
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