Punctuality figures soar across UK airports

FLIGHT punctuality improved at leading UK airports in the last three months of 2011, figures show.

Comparatively mild weather at the end of last year means as many as 80 per cent of scheduled flights were on time at the ten main UK airports in October-December 2011, which include Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

This compared with a figure of only 68 per cent in October-December 2010 - a period during which flights were badly affected by heavy snow.

The average delay for scheduled flights fell from 21 minutes in the last three months of 2010 to just 11 minutes in October-December 2011.

For the whole of 2011, a total of 80 per cent of scheduled flights were on time, up from 73 per cent in 2010.

The number of charter flights on time rose from 63 per cent in the last three months of 2010 to 73 per cent in October-December 2011.

The average charter flight delay dropped from 38 minutes in October-December 2010 to 21 minutes in the last three months of 2011.

The statistics related to flights in and out of Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, London City, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports.

Among the 75 scheduled international destinations with the most passengers in the last three months of 2011, flights to and from Larnaca in Cyprus recorded the worst on-time performance of 63 per cent and the highest average delay of 21 minutes.

Flights to and from Rotterdam achieved the best punctuality with an on-time performance of 92 per cent, while flights to and from Berlin (Shonefeld) achieved the lowest average delay of six minutes.