HOLIDAY HOLDUPS
THE AIRLINES WITH THE WORST TRACK RECORD FOR DELAYS
TUI Airways was the worst major airline when it came to delays in 2018.
Nearly three in every four of TUI’s flights (72 per cent) were delayed last year - or 38,731 of the total 53,621 - according to figures from from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Ryanair - famous for its budget flights - was the second worst when it came to delays.
A whopping 191,607 of its flights (64 per cent) took off or landed late.
Ryanair flights were delayed by more than six hours on 402 occasions - more than any other major airline although this accounted for 0.2 per cent of the airline’s total flights.
Thomas Cook had the worst proportion of flights delayed by more than six hours, at 0.5 per cent.
At the other end of the scale, American Airlines and United Airlines were much less likely to be delayed.
The two airlines had the jointlowest proportion of delays of all major operators, with just 40 per cent of flights taking off or landing late.
In terms of cancellations, flybmi which recently stopped flying and went into administration - was the worst.
It cancelled 4.5 per cent of its flights in 2018.
Emirates, on the other hand, cancelled just 32 out of 13,012 flights last year.
That’s equivalent to 0.1 per cent and makes it the most reliable airline in terms of cancellations.
The analysis looked at 26 airlines that made at least 10,000 flights each throughout the year.
It is worth noting that often flight delays will be out of an airline’s control and poor weather and air traffic congestion can mean additional time is spent waiting at the airport or onboard the plane.
The figures also include delays and cancellations experienced at Gatwick Airport between 19th and 21st of December last year, when hundreds of airlines were forced to cancel flights following reports of drones sighted close to the runway.
More than 1,000 flights and 140,000 passengers were affected. TUI Airlines were contacted for comment.