Heading on a vacation in the UK? There are some airports with a better record for customer service than others, in terms of the likelihood of departure delays.
Every month in the UK, there are over 165,000 flights full of UK citizens heading off for work and pleasure, both domestically and internationally. With the average delay time across all airports hitting 26 minutes, the company Netflights has revealed data showing the airports where a traveller is most likely to depart on time and not be delayed ahead of the peak holiday season.
However, despite a top ten being drawn the punctuality rates are quite poor, with the best placed airport achieving a lowly 7 percent for flights taking off on-time. The worst performer was Doncaster Sheffield Airport, recording the longest delays at an average of 28 minutes.
Data was drawn from the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) flight punctuality records to reveal the destinations where a traveller is most likely to get an on-time flight and the airports where less delayed flights are the most common.
The 10 airports with the best records are:
| Ranking | Airport | Annual Flights | On time Flights | On time Flights % | Flight most likely to be on time Domestic / International |
| 1 | Birmingham | 78,133 | 5,469.31 | 7% | Belfast City / Craiova, Romania |
| =2 | Gatwick | 252,991 | 17,709.37 | 6.9% | Belfast City / Madrid, Spain |
| =2 | Luton | 97,873 | 6,851.11 | 6.9% | Belfast City / Cancun, Mexico |
| =2 | Stansted | 169,033 | 11,832.31 | 6.9% | City of Derry / Dortmund, Germany |
| =3 | Belfast International | 43,190 | 2,591.4 | 6% | Luton / Keflavik, Iceland |
| =3 | Edinburgh | 104,969 | 6,298.14 | 6% | Heathrow / Doha, Qatar |
| =3 | Heathrow | 450,128 | 27,007.68 | 6% | Newcastle / Atlanta, USA |
| =3 | London City | 48,486 | 2,909.16 | 6% | Belfast City / Dublin, Ireland |
| =3 | Manchester | 171,339 | 10,280.34 | 6% | Newquay / Orlando, USA |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 28,690 | 1,434.5 | 5% | Sumburgh, Shetland Islands / Goteborg, Sweden |
Taking the top spot is Birmingham. With 7 percent of flights on time, Birmingham is the best location to fly from. Domestic flights to Belfast City, and internationally, Craiova Romania are the routes highly likely to be on time.
Three airports tie second for the best to fly from: Gatwick, Luton and Stansted Airports. Each of these is located in the south-east (often misnamed as ‘London airports’).
Following these, there is 6 percent chance of heading off on time when departing from Belfast International, Edinburgh, Heathrow, London City and Manchester. These locations shares 3rd place for most punctual flights. Heathrow has the most on time flights – but proportionally, flights from Gatwick are the most likely to be on time.
Analysing the data further, Netflights also found that flights to Spain were the most likely to be on time. They also found that Virgin Atlantic is the most punctual airline of large international carriers, while flights to Heathrow are the most likely to be cancelled.
Flights to Belfast City are the most likely domestic flights to be on time – a reported 20 percent of flights were on time while flights to smaller, less popular destinations are also most likely to be ahead of schedule, such as flights to the Shetland Islands.
