The UK airports where your plane is most likely to face delays
Some of Britain’s busiest airports have seen flight delays almost double in the last five years
FLIGHTS are up to twice as likely to be delayed from some of the UK’s busiest airports compared to five years ago.
Statistics on flights to and from Britain’s five busiest airports have seen delays in some places rise by 45 percent.
A comparison of official figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) from 2011 to 2016 by the flight delay compensation app airFair reveals that flights are much more likely to be delayed than they were five years ago.
Gatwick emerged as the worst offender with 45 per cent of flights in August 2016 delayed by more than 15 minutes, compared to just 24 per cent in August 2011.
Other London airports didn’t fare much better, with delays at Stansted increasing from 18 per cent in August 2011 to 31 per cent in the same month in 2016.
The UK’s busiest airport, Heathrow, also saw an increase from 19 per cent of all flights in August 2011 to 23 per cent in August 2016.
Flight delays aren’t just a problem at the capital’s airports though.
At Manchester Airport 30 per cent of flights in August 2016 were delayed for more than 15 minutes, an increase compared to 23 per cent of flights in August 2011.
Passengers at Birmingham Airport are also more likely to be affected by delays, with a 13 per cent increase across the board - 16 per cent in August 2011 compared to 29 per cent in August 2016.
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Steven Bell, managing director at airFair told Sun Online: “With increasing passenger volumes and more routes than ever before, it is almost inevitable that flight delays are also on the rise.
“Although airlines are not always at fault, there are occasions passengers could be owed compensation such as staffing problems, technical faults and the knock-on effect of bad weather delaying previous flights.”
EU regulation states that passengers are entitled to compensation if a flight is delayed by more than three hours from an airport which resides in the European Union or was en route to an EU member state.
The compensation passengers are owed is fixed, regardless of the flight cost, but the amount depends on the length of the delay and distance of the flight and passengers could be entitled to as much as €600 (around £480).
A spokesperson for Gatwick Airport said: “Gatwick recognises the inconvenience that delays cause to our passengers.
“Despite implementing a wide range of measures to improve on-time performance in recent years, improvements to punctuality have been overwhelmed by the scale of wider airspace issues outside our control, including repeated strike action on the continent and heavily congested airspace above parts of Europe and London.
“We will continue to make improvements and invest in new infrastructure to help support punctuality."
A spokesperson for Heathrow told Sun Online: “Punctuality is at the heart of what we do at Heathrow and we’re always looking for innovative ways to improve it – including through new runway capacity."
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "Delays can be caused by a range of factors.
"We work closely with our third parties on site - airlines, handling agents and air traffic control to minimise delays as far as reasonably possible.”
A Stansted spokesperson said: “At peak times, Stansted’s single runway is one of the busiest and most efficient in Europe.
"Airline punctuality can be impacted by a number of issues outside the airport’s control [but] we are committed to working in partnership with air traffic control and our airlines to provide safe and efficient aircraft turnarounds and keep delays to a minimum.”
