Flight delays getting longer
Gatwick Airport suffered the worst slump in on-time performance of any UK airport during the second quarter of this year, when the average delay endured by passengers flying from the London airport increased to 18 minutes.
According to figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority, the on-time performance of all 10 monitored airports fell during the period from April to June, with the exception of London City.
Gatwick’s on-time performance fell 10 percentage points to 71% while Luton’s on-time performance fell by nine percentage points, also to 71%. At both airports the average delay increased by seven minutes to 18 minutes.
Heathrow’s on-time performance fell two percentage points to 78% and Stansted’s dropped by four percentage points, also to 78%.
London City achieved on-time performance of 88%, which was a one percentage point improvement over the second quarter of 2009.
Overall on-time performance for scheduled flights at regional airports fell by four percentage points and the average delay rose by three minutes. Manchester and Newcastle both suffered the largest decline of six percentage points and a five-minute increase in average delay.
The punctuality of charter flights also decreased by eight percentage points to 66% and the average delay rose from 21 minutes in the second quarter of 2009 to 28 minutes from April to June year.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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