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According to figures released by the UK CAA, in the second quarter of 2011, 82% of scheduled flights were classified as being ‘on-time’, four percentage points higher than the 78% recorded in the second quarter of 2010. Significant improvement in delay was seen on scheduled flights at Gatwick, Stansted and Luton and on charter flights at Gatwick and Manchester compared to last year’s second quarter.
The CAA data shows that during April to June 2011, the overall on-time performance (defined as the proportion of flights arriving or departing early or up to 15 minutes late) of scheduled flights at the ten UK airports monitored was 82%, four percentage points higher than in the second quarter of 2010. The average delay across all scheduled flights monitored was 11 minutes, a fall of three minutes compared with the same period in 2010.
In the second quarter of this year, there were 348,000 scheduled flights and 24,000 charter flights at the ten airports monitored, which represents a 10% increase in scheduled flights and a 1% increase in charter flights, compared with the second quarter of 2010, mainly due to the recovery from the effect of the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption in April 2010.
Commenting on the figures, Iain Osborne, CAA Group Director for Regulatory Policy, said: “The growth we’re now seeing in flight numbers is a welcome trend, as it means more people getting to where they want to go. The last 18 months have seen unprecedented disruption and we are pleased to see the sector recovering from this. It is also pleasing that growth has not been at the expense of punctuality, and we hope to see collaborative work by the industry continue to reduce delays.”
Scheduled Flights
On-time performance (defined as early to 15 minutes late) for scheduled flights at London airports increased by four percentage points to 81% and the average delay fell by three minutes to 11 minutes, between the second quarter of 2010 and the same period in 2011. Heathrow and London City showed the smallest increase in on-time performance (one percentage point) whereas Gatwick, Stansted and Luton increased their on-time performance by ten, eight and seven percentage points respectively. Average delay fell by six minutes at Gatwick, and by five minutes at Stansted and Luton, whereas Heathrow’s average delay fell by just one minute and London City was flat year on year.
Overall, on-time performance for scheduled flights at regional airports increased by three percentage points and the average delay fell by three minutes in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. This improvement in on-time performance was similar across the five regional airports monitored, with average delay falling two minutes at Glasgow and Edinburgh, and three minutes at Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle.
Charter Flights
The proportion of on-time charter flights increased by eight percentage points to 74%, compared with the same period of 2010. The average delay across all charter flights monitored in the second quarter of 2011 was 20 minutes, an improvement on 28 minutes recorded in the second quarter of 2010.
Destinations with most passengers
Among the 75 scheduled and charter destinations with the most passengers in the second quarter of 2011, charter flights to and from Palma de Mallorca recorded the worst on-time performance of 66% and the highest average delay of 25 minutes. Madrid was the worst performing top destination for scheduled flights with an average delay of 18 minutes and an on-time performance of 68%.
Flights between the 10 monitored airports and Stansted had the highest on-time performance (91%), whereas domestic flights to and from Newcastle and the Isle of Man, and the 10 monitored airports had the shortest average delay (5.8 minutes).
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
