Flight delays rise at UK airports

Passengers faced an increase in flight delays last year, figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show.

A total of 73% of charter flights left on time in 2014 compared with 77% in the previous year, while the average delay rose from 17 to 18 minutes.

The punctuality of scheduled flights also dropped from 80% in 2013 to 79% last year.

CAA policy director Iain Osborne said the figures were "disappointing" and urged the sector to do better.

"The industry has had to deal with some unseasonably poor weather and a number of overseas air traffic control strikes, both beyond their control," he added.

The average delay to scheduled flights last year was unchanged at 12 minutes.

The statistics were gathered from 10 UK airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, London City, Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Boost for Billund

London City had the best punctuality record for scheduled flights last year, with 88% leaving on time.

Only Newcastle, Manchester and Heathrow improved their records.

On the most popular scheduled flight routes in and out of the UK, Billund in Denmark had the highest on-time performance, at 89% - Istanbul had the lowest figure, at 56%.

Bangkok had the longest average scheduled flight delay, at 27 minutes, while Billund had the shortest, at six minutes.

Mr Osborne said he hoped the industry would try to build on the successes of previous years and "improve punctuality performance further".