Flight delays worse on charter flights

Flight delays are getting worse on charter flights from UK airports according to the latest data released by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Only 59% of charter flights were ‘on time’ – defined as early to 15 minutes late – in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 67% in the same period in 2007.

Of the eight airports operating charter flights only two – Stansted and Edinburgh – improved their on time performance. Edinburgh, in fact, had the best on time performance, with 74% of flights departing on time, compared to just 58% in the same period last year.

Worst on time performance for airports operating charter flights was Manchester airport, where only 55% of flights took off on time, a fall from 62% from the previous year. On time performance at Gatwick fell from 66% to 58%, and at Birmingham from 75% to 63%.

Average delays on charter flights increased from 25 minutes in 2007 to 31 minutes in the second quarter of 2008. Manchester airport also had the longest delays – 34 minutes on average compared to 29 minutes in the equivalent period in 2007. Glasgow was next, with average delays increasing from 23 minutes to 32 minutes. Average delays at Gatwick were also 32 minutes, and 26 minutes at Stansted. The only airport where average delays decreased was Edinburgh, down from 27 minutes to 18.

Scheduled flights performed better. Overall on time performance at the 10 airports monitored improved by one percentage point to 69%. At Gatwick and Edinburgh airports on time performance was up 3% to 68% and 75% respectively. Newcastle airport improved on time performance by 5% to 79%.

But at the UK’s largest airport, Heathrow, on time performance fell by 2% to 62%, while at London City airport it fell by 3% also to 62%. Average delays on scheduled flights remained the same as in the second quarter of 2007, at 17 minutes. Flight delays were shorter at Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle airports, but increased by a minute at Heathrow, London City and Luton airports.

The statistics also reveal the worst places to fly from. Of the 75 scheduled and charter destinations with the most passengers, Los Angeles International airport recorded the worst on time performance of only 50%. New York Newark and New York JFK had the longest average delays on scheduled flights, at 30 and 28 minutes respectively.

Turkey is becoming increasingly popular as a holiday destination, but Dalaman airport was the worst performer of the three charter destinations in the top 75, with on time performance of just 58% and average flight delays of 32 minutes.

Cardiff airport had the best on time performance at 87% and Leeds Bradford airport the shortest average delays of only seven minutes.

Written by: Nick Purdom