Birmingham airport has been revealed to be the worst within the UK for the size of flight delays, based on a brand new examine. The analysis discovered that passengers travelling from the Midlands airport had been, on common, delayed by 25 minutes. That is virtually double the business common of 13 minutes. The report additionally discovered that almost a 3rd of all flights from Birmingham had been delayed in 2018.
The examine, which was carried out by client group Which?, analysed information from the Civil Aviation Authority between January and December 2018. It ranked 25 of the UK’s busiest airports on punctuality, bearing in mind common delay instances, the proportion of flights delayed for greater than an hour and the variety of cancellations.
Birmingham Airport’s poor efficiency was blamed on a lot of components, together with airspace congestion and a scarcity of funding in infrastructure. The airport has constantly struggled with delays lately, with Ryanair cancelling a lot of flights in 2018 as a result of air visitors management strikes and a scarcity of pilots.
Birmingham Airport has been ranked the worst within the UK for the size of its flight delays, for the second yr in a row.
Final yr, passengers travelling by way of the airport needed to wait a mean of half an hour after their flight’s scheduled departure time for it to lastly take off, based on evaluation of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) information.
That common delay is nearly twice so long as 2021, when the West Midlands airport – the seventh busiest within the nation – additionally positioned final.
Collectively taking second place within the rankings had been Doncaster Sheffield, which closed in November final yr, and Manchester.
Each recorded common delays of 29 minutes.
The airport with the shortest common flight delay, in the meantime, is only a comparatively quick drive from the one with the longest.
East Midlands Airport, south of Nottingham and Derby, clocked a mean time of 13 minutes – nonetheless not supreme if you happen to’re the particular person ready to board, however a lot better than elsewhere.
Throughout all British airports, the common delay was 23 minutes.
A Birmingham Airport spokesman mentioned: ‘The beginning of 2022 was devastated by Covid.
‘After journey restrictions had been lifted, the aviation business fought exhausting to recuperate.
‘This yr, the primary since 2020 not impacted by Covid, our airport is operating easily with clients set to equal or exceed pre-pandemic numbers.
‘Prospects utilizing Birmingham airport this summer time can anticipate modifications to strolling routes as we construct our £40 million new safety corridor, set to be prepared for June 2024.’
The 2 airports on the checklist from Northern Eire faired comparatively properly, with Belfast Worldwide rating twenty first and Belfast Metropolis coming joint twenty second out of 26.
Scotland’s three airports got here joint seventh (Edinburgh), joint tenth (Aberdeen) and joint fifteenth (Glasgow), whereas Cardiff joined Edinburgh in seventh place as Wales’s solely entry on the checklist.
The complete checklist: The place does your nearest airport rank?
1. Birmingham (half-hour)
=2. Manchester (29 minutes)
=2. Doncaster Sheffield (29 minutes)
4. Luton (28 minutes)
5. Gatwick (27 minutes)
6. Bristol (26 minutes)
=7. Cardiff (24 minutes)
=7. Edinburgh (24 minutes)
9. Heathrow (22 minutes)
=10. Newcastle (21 minutes)
=10. Isle of Man (21 minutes)
=10. Aberdeen (21 minutes)
=13. Leeds Bradford (20 minutes)
=13. Southend (20 minutes)
=15. Glasgow (19 minutes)
=15. Stansted (19 minutes)
=15. Southampton (19 minutes)
=15. Bournemouth (19 minutes)
=19. London Metropolis (17 minutes)
=19. Jersey (17 minutes)
21. Belfast Worldwide (16 minutes)
=22. Liverpool John Lennon (quarter-hour)
=22. Belfast Metropolis (quarter-hour)
=24. Exeter (14 minutes)
=24. Teesside (14 minutes)
26. East Midlands (13 minutes)
When flights are considerably delayed, airways are required beneath client legal guidelines to offer passengers with help, which may embrace refreshments, a way of communication and lodging if required.
If the reason for disruption is beneath an airline’s management, passengers are additionally due compensation of as much as £520, relying on the size of the delay and the gap of the flight.
CAA head of client Anna Bowles mentioned: ‘Our information tells us that too many passengers confronted disappointing ranges of delays throughout UK airports final yr.
‘It’s important shoppers expertise a high-quality service from each airways and airports this yr.
‘We anticipate airways to proactively present passengers with details about their rights when flights are disrupted.’
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