Airline punctuality ‘getting worse each year’
Flight delay compensation law firm Bott and Co has found that the number of delays and cancellations for flights departing UK airports has increased by 72% since 2015.
Its figures show 2018 saw a 33% increase in flights cancelled or delayed over three hours compared to the previous year, when only 1.31% of flights were affected.
Reasons for some of the delays and cancellations ast year included cabin crew strikes, reoccurring drone chaos, tightly-packed flight schedules and uncertainty over the looming Brexit fiasco, which has continued into 2019.
The data revealed that passengers travelling with some of Europe’s most popular airlines were the worst affected, with certain airlines showing a year-on-year increase in travel disruption.
Norwegian Air stood out as having the biggest upsurge. The Bott and Co report claims its passengers suffered 754% more delays and cancellations in 2018 than in 2015. However, Norwegian refutes the stats (see below).
Spanish low-cost airline Vueling had the second biggest increase of 608% followed closely by Air France with 536%, according to the report.
Of the British airlines that made the ‘poor punctuality’ list, British Midland Regional Limited, TUI, Jet2 and easyJet all had over 100% increases in delays and cancellations over the four-year period.
The data saw Virgin Atlantic as the only European airline to have fewer delays and cancellations in 2018 than in 2015 with a 3% reduction.
Coby Benson, Flight Delay Compensation Solicitor at Bott and Co said: "While some events are outside of the airlines’ control, there are many instances of flights being disrupted by factors within their control."
Benson continued: "EU Regulation 261/2004 was introduced in 2004 to protect passengers and act as a deterrent to prevent significant delays and cancellations occurring in the first place.
"The data does offer some good news for passengers. Some airlines have managed to reduce the amount of delays and cancellations. This demonstrates that having a regulation in place is working to some extent at dissuading airlines from delays."
A spokesman for Norwegian said: "We fly 37 million passengers annually, including six million UK passengers from London Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester Airports to 40 destinations worldwide.
"These inaccurate figures do not match our data and does not take into account that Norwegian UK didn’t operate in 2015, Norwegian Air Shuttle had a significant reduction in flights and that Norwegian Air International flights had significantly increased between 2015 and 2018.
"Norwegian’s punctuality in 2019 has improved and it must be remembered that frequent air traffic control strikes across Europe, drone activity, capacity constrained airports and adverse weather conditions are beyond the control of airlines and invariably impact flights.
"Norwegian is committed to keep improving punctuality and where factors are within our direct control we have introduced measures to continue delivering a smooth, efficient experience for our customers."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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