Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for air travel with droves of passengers heading off to visit family and friends, or jet off on festive holidays around the globe. According to ABTA between four and seven million Britons headed on holiday during the period last year alone, and the same is expected this year. Many travellers will find themselves the victim of airport delays, a combination of the busy travel period and bad weather. However, some UK flight hubs are worse than others when it comes to late departures.
A study based on 2018 flight data from flightstats.com revealed the departure information of 15 UK airports, with some worse than others.
Topping the list for flight delays were both London’s Stansted and Luton Airports, with 40 percent of all departures delayed during this time. At Stansted, out of 6,325 flights, 2,530 were delayed.
Out of 4,057 flights in December at Luton Airport, 1,622 of these were delayed.
Bristol was close begin, with 34 percent of its 2,313 flights taking off behind schedule.
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In third place was Manchester airport. Out of its 4,329 December flights, 664 were delayed – a total of 31 percent.
London’s two biggest airports – Heathrow and Gatwick – place fourth and fifth. This could be a surprise considering how many international and domestic flights they handle on a day. London’s Heathrow airport saw 30 percent of its flights delayed during the festive month, meanwhile Gatwick saw 29 percent of flights delayed. The two airports had a total of 19,233 departures and 10,371 departures for the month of December respectively.
Other airports features in the data include Birmingham, London City, Glasgow, Belfast, Leeds Bradford, and Newcastle, all with less than 28 percent of their flights delayed.
Liverpool came out on top as the airport with the least delays. Out of 1,311 December flights just 183too off later than planned.
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The full list of airport statistics is as follows:
London Luton Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 4,057. Flights delayed in December 2018: 1,622. Delayed by 40 percent.
Bristol Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 2,313. Flights delayed in December 2018: 786. Delayed by 34 percent.
Manchester Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 6,857. Flights delayed in December 2018: 2,262. Delayed by 33 percent.
Edinburgh Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 4,329. Flights delayed in December 2018: 664. Delayed by 31 percent.
London Heathrow
Total flights in December 2018: 19,233. Flights delayed in December 2018: 5,769. Delayed by 30 percent.
London Gatwick
Total flights in December 2018: 10,371. Flights delayed in December 2018: 3,007. Delayed by 29 percent.
Birmingham Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 3,507. Flights delayed in December 2018: 981. Delayed by 28 percent.
London City Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 2,848. Flights delayed in December 2018: 769. Delayed by 27 percent.
Glasgow Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 2,764. Flights delayed in December 2018: 691. Delayed by 25 percent.
Aberdeen Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 1,403. Flights delayed in December 2018: 322. Delayed by 23 percent.
Belfast Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 1,671. Flights delayed in December 2018: 350. Delayed by 21 percent.
Leeds Bradford Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 824. Flights delayed in December 2018: 158. Delayed by 19 percent.
Newcastle Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 1,167. Flights delayed in December 2018: 198. Delayed by 17 percent.
Liverpool Airport
Total flights in December 2018: 1,311. Flights delayed in December 2018: 183. Delayed by 14 percent.
FlightStats.com also revealed the worst airports for delays on a global scale, for passengers set to fly international this Christmas and New Year.
Topping the chart for the worst airport for delays was Manila airport.
The Philippines flight hub saw just under half of all its flights delayed over Christmas, with 41 percent of its flights running late.
The airport was followed by Mumbai in India; Frankfurt in Germany, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
