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Transport ombudsman call after flight delay data is published

Air Transat, Icelandair and Norwegian Air Shuttle have been found to be the least punctual airlines using UK airports.

EasyJet emerged as the UK airline having the worst punctuality with more than a third of its flights arriving late, according to research by consumer group Which?

In total a quarter of all flights coming to the UK landed more than 15 minutes after their scheduled arrival time.

The findings led to a call for the next government to create a transoort ombudsman to help resolve complaints againat airlines.

Only 66% of EasyJet’s flights arrived on time, compared with 74% of British Airways’ and 77% of Ryanair flights.

Flybe was the UK’s most punctual airline with 82% of flights landing on time.

KLM achieved 88% per cent while the worst performer was Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat, with 55% of flights landing within 15 minutes of their planned arrival time.

Icelandair and Norwegian had on-time performance rates of 56% and 60%, respectively.

A spokesman for Air Transat said it was not wholly responsible for its low punctuality ranking.

“The statistics in this report do not take into account the delays caused by factors beyond our control such as weather and air traffic control.

“When these factors are excluded, our punctuality rate is in fact 78%.”

Icelandair also blamed issues such as air traffic strikes as well as renovations at Reykjavik airport for its performance.

Which? analysed landing times for 850,000 flights at 25 UK airports.

Richard Headland, of Which?, said: “These figures show just how frequently flights fail to reach their destination on time.

“If you’re unlucky enough to experience a severe delay, compensation is available and people should claim what they’re rightly entitled to.”

He added: “Resolving complaints with airlines can be a very tricky process, so we’re calling on the next government to legislate for a new, mandatory transport ombudsman.”

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