Airport delays get longer

Delays at UK airports are getting worse according to the latest statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The CAA's figures cover the period between April and June 2007 and show that the average delay on scheduled flights rose from 15 minutes in 2006 to 17 minutes in the same quarter of 2007. Luton airport, where the average delay fell by one minute, and Stansted, where the average delay stayed the same, were the only airports bucking the trend. At London City airport, on-time performance fell from 72 to 65%.

Average delays for charter flights in the same period rose from 24 to 25 minutes. Gatwick improved its performance as average delays fell by four minutes. Glasgow was the only other airport showing an improvement as average delays fell by two minutes.

Worst performing routes from the UK were to New York (JFK and Newark), Toronto and Budapest, which all had average delays of 25 minutes or more. Leeds Bradford recorded both the best on-time performance - 89% - and the shortest average delay - just five minutes.

According to the website www.ukairportdelays.co.uk, which monitors delays at UK airports based on customer feedback, the airports with the worst security delays currently are Manchester, Heathrow and Gatwick. Average reported waiting time at security at Manchester is 45 minutes, at Heathrow 36 minutes, and at Gatwick 35 minutes.

Shortest average delays at security according to UKairportdelays are at Coventry (2 minutes), Edinburgh (4 minutes) and Bournemouth (5 minutes).

Written by: Nick Purdom