London Stansted is the worst airport for delays, figures show

Passengers wait for flight information in Stansted's main terminal
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Olivia Tobin28 May 2019

London Stansted was the worst airport for flight delays last year, a study showed.

The Essex airport topped the list after departures were an average of 25 minutes late in 2018, according to figures analysed by the Press Association.

A consumer group described the figure as "completely unacceptable".

As well as London Stansted, two more of the capital’s airports made the top ten for worst performing.

London Luton Airport recorded the joint second worst for punctuality, alongside Birmingham.

Gatwick Airport was ranked as the fourth worst.

An analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data revealed Belfast City (George Best), in contrast, was the best performing airport with a figure of just eight minutes.

London Stansted is the fourth busiest airport in the UK.

It is a hub for a number of low-cost eastern European airlines as well as being the largest base for Ryanair.

Birmingham and London Luton ranked low on the list, with aircraft typically taking off 19 minutes behind schedule.

Airport punctuality figures in full, ranked worst to best

1. London Stansted: 25 minutes

2=. London Luton: 19 minutes

2=. Birmingham: 19 minutes

4. London Gatwick: 18 minutes

5=. Manchester: 16 minutes

5=. Jersey: 16 minutes

7=. Edinburgh: 15 minutes

7=. Belfast International: 15 minutes

7=. Southend: 15 minutes

7=. Glasgow: 15 minutes

11=. Newcastle: 14 minutes

11=. Durham Tees Valley: 14 minutes

11=. Cardiff: 14 minutes

11=. Southampton: 14 minutes

15=. Aberdeen: 13 minutes

15=. Isle of Man: 13 minutes

15=. East Midlands: 13 minutes

15=. Leeds Bradford: 13 minutes

15=. London Heathrow: 13 minutes

20=. Bournemouth: 12 minutes

20=. Exeter: 12 minutes

20=. Doncaster Sheffield: 12 minutes

23. Liverpool (John Lennon): 10 minutes

24. Belfast City (George Best): Eight minutes

Sussex airport Gatwick recorded an average of 15 minutes.

The ranking takes into account every scheduled and chartered flight from 24 major UK airports. Cancelled flights are not included.

Flights across all featured airports were delayed by an average of 16 minutes in 2018.

Liverpool (John Lennon) was in second place (10 minutes), followed by Doncaster Sheffield, Exeter and Bournemouth (12 minutes).

Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: "It's completely unacceptable for passengers to be regularly delayed by nearly half an hour.

"These delays aren't just an inconvenience but can leave holidaymakers hundreds of pounds out of pocket because of missed connections, transfers and fines for picking up their hire car late.

"While compensation is available for delays of over three hours, airlines should stop passing the buck and make it easier for their passengers by finally introducing automatic compensation."

A spokesman for London Stansted said: "Following a particularly challenging summer last year when adverse weather and air traffic control issues had a dramatic impact on airline on-time performance, Ryanair committed to a multimillion-pound investment in additional resourcing and equipment to support its ground operation at London Stansted.

"This investment has already helped deliver significant service improvements to flight punctuality."

Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) said delays are caused by a "range of factors".

Last year featured a blast of cold weather due to the Beast from the East and strikes by air traffic controllers in countries such as France and Belgium.

The AOA added that disruption is also caused by the capacity of UK airspace being constrained.

The aviation industry is working with the Department for Transport to modernise the way flights are managed to improve resilience and boost capacity.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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