Fewer flight delays at UK airports

[March 24th 2008]

On-time performance at UK airports improved by 8% in the last quarter of 2008.

The latest figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that 77% of scheduled flights at the 10 UK airports monitored were on-time (defined as early to 15 minutes late). But over the same period the number of passenger aircraft movements also fell by 6%.

The 10 UK airports monitored to produce the quarterly statistics are Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Luton, Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London City.

For scheduled flights the greatest improvement in punctuality was seen at London City airport. Here 74% of flights were on-time, 16% better than the same period in 2007. Heathrow also recorded a dramatic improvement, with 13% more on-time flights. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports also performed better, up by 9%, 4% and 5% respectively.

All regional airports also had more flights on time. Edinburgh was the airport with the best on-time performance as 83% of flights left within 15 minutes of their allotted time.

Average delays on scheduled flights fell by four minutes to 13 minutes. At Heathrow flight delays decreased by seven minutes to an average of 14 minutes.

Charter flights were not so punctual, but the proportion of on-time flights did improve by 2% to 68%. Average delays on charter flights fell by two minutes to 24 minutes. But at Gatwick, which has the highest number of charter flights, average flight delays increased by two minutes to 31 minutes.

The CAA also produces statistics on the 75 scheduled and charter destinations with the most passengers. The statistics throw up some useful information on airports which it may be worth trying to avoid. Los Angeles airport recorded the worst on-time performance of just 60%. And Tenerife airport had the highest average flight delays of 24 minutes for scheduled destinations.

Of domestic flights, the best on-time performance was on flights to Cardiff airport (88%). Shannon airport had the shortest average flight delays of just seven minutes among the top 75 scheduled and charter destinations.

Written by: Nick Purdom

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