Delays rise at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports

FLIGHT punctuality at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports dipped last year to its worst since 2010, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reported today.
Passengers at Edinburgh Airport. Delays at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have risen to its worst level in five years. Picture: Steven Scott TaylorPassengers at Edinburgh Airport. Delays at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have risen to its worst level in five years. Picture: Steven Scott Taylor
Passengers at Edinburgh Airport. Delays at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have risen to its worst level in five years. Picture: Steven Scott Taylor

Nearly one in five aircraft arriving or departing at the country’s two busiest airports were more than 15 minutes late.

The 82 per cent punctuality rate was 3 percentage points worse than 2013 for Edinburgh and two points worse for Glasgow.

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Passengers on Edinburgh’s 27,000 scheduled flights and Glasgow’s 19,000 suffered an average delay of ten minutes.

That was one minute longer than the previous year for Edinburgh but unchanged for Glasgow.

Charter passengers suffered far longer delays at both airports, although these accounted for only a fraction of flights.

At Edinburgh, more than one in four of the 1,000 charter flights were delayed, although the 73 per cent punctuality rate was five points better than 2013.

Average delays were also cut, from 23 to 18 minutes.

Passengers aboard the 2,000 charter flights from Glasgow fared better, with 78 per cent punctuality - but this was one point down on last year.

Average delays also fell, by three minutes to 14 minutes.

Edinburgh Airport said it handled a record 10.2 million passengers last year.

Its spokesman said: “In 2014, Edinburgh Airport enjoyed a record-breaking year, with more passengers travelling through the airport than ever before.”

A Glasgow Airport spokesman said: “2014 was our busiest year since 2008 and our fourth consecutive year of growth.

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“This is reflected in the latest set of figures from the CAA which show scheduled passenger flights increased for the fourth year running.

“They also show we were one of the top performing airports in the UK in regards to punctuality.

“On-time performance will always be an area of focus, and we will continue to work with airlines and their handling agents to improve overall levels of efficiency.”

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