Report shows how flight delays and cancellations damage the UK economy
Delayed and cancelled flights cost the UK £430 million in Gross Domestic Product in 2013.
The figure was calculated and published by compensation claims company, refund.me, based on research in the US.
It said a report commissioned by the Federal Aviation Authority, carried out by the University of California, estimates that around 0.028% of potential national GDP is lost due to the cost to businesses and individuals of delayed flights.
The damage is due to lost working hours when business travellers are faced with delays and the knock-on effect on productivity.
"Considering that in 2013 the UK’s GDP was over £1587 billion, then this seemingly trifling percentage actually amounts to a loss of over £431 million, the equivalent of around 810,000 tickets to fly from London to New York," said refund.me.
The group said the research shows that flight delays have ‘far wider-reaching effects than the hours of extra waiting around they cause for irate passengers’.
"The impact of flight delays and cancellations on GDP highlights the disruption these problems cause on a wider scale," said Eve Buechner, founder and CEO of refund.me.
"Considering the cost to individuals and businesses of delays, it is only right that airlines compensate those affected, so that this money can be injected back into the economy."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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