Tui defends performance as airline ranked worst in UK for delays 

Tui has defended the performance of its airline as Which? accused the operator’s in-house carrier of having a poor punctuality record.

 

Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority departure data by the consumer group found that Tui Airways was the worst for delays out of the UK’s six biggest airlines.

 

The Tui airline was found to have the lowest average percentage of on-time departures in the period between May 2024 and April 2025. 

 

An average of 67.2% of Tui’s departures were on time in pre-pandemic 2019, but that had slipped to 59.2% by 2024-5, Which? claimed.   

 

Wizz Air was second-worst for punctuality for the time period Which? looked at, followed by Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2.com and British Airways.

 

Which? Travel deputy editor Naomi Leach said: “Our analysis shows that many airlines are less punctual than before the pandemic, which will come as no surprise to those travellers who have experienced delays. 

 

“Airlines need to improve how they communicate with and support passengers during delays ensuring they inform travellers about their right to claim compensation.” 

 

A Tui spokesperson said: “Punctuality is super important to us and has highest priority but there is one topic even more important: to operate each and every flight and to not cancel any flight. That’s what we do because we have holidaymakers onboard which we want to fly to their destination and also back.

 

“So, sometimes we have flights delayed by a couple of hours because we need to get a replacement aircraft ready. But for guests the good news is: their flight isn’t cancelled and they can still fly. 

 

"Other airlines have or use the possibility to cancel flights which then would also not be part of the delay statistics anymore. 

 

“And, one important point: within our overall fleet of 130 airplanes we have about 11 spare airplanes - the highest number we ever had and which helps us to keep a network alive without cancellations. 

 

“So yes we want to be more punctual but we also keep our credo to never cancel, which is the even more important topic for our holiday guests.”

 

A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “Some delays are outside of our control, and we do whatever we can to avoid cancellations. Our completion rate - meaning completing the flights we schedule - was one of the best in the entire industry in 2024 at 99.4% - and that has increased to 99.9% for flights from the UK between January and April this year. 

 

“While we know delays are frustrating and we always try our best to avoid them, we would rather delay than cancel a flight, as we know how important it is for our passengers to reach their destinations.”

 

An easyJet spokesperson said: “EasyJet always does all possible to get our customers to their destinations on time and minimise any delays despite flying in some of the most congested airspace in the world.”

 

BA and Ryanair did not provide a comment to Which?.