Gatwick is UK's most stressful airport for travellers in 2025

Researchers determined the most stressful airports in Europe using data on flight punctuality in 2025 from EUROCONTROL for 61 major European airports with at least 30,000 scheduled arrivals in 2025.

This data was used to create an index of three factors to rank these airports. These factors were: the percentage of flights to and from an airport that were scheduled, the percentage of arrivals that were punctual, and the percentage of departures that were punctual.

London Gatwick Airport is the most stressful airport in the UK and the fifth-most stressful airport in Europe, scoring 59.5 out of 100 for how stressful its flight schedules and delays were for travellers. Gatwick's low score stems from the UK’s lowest and Europe’s tenth-lowest percentage of flights operating to the planned schedule, at 92%, the UK's fourth-lowest and Europe's ninth-lowest percentage of arrivals that were within 15 minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled departure time, at 69.27%, and the UK's second-lowest and Europe's sixteenth-lowest percentage of departures that arrived within 15 minutes and 59 seconds of their arrival time, at 65.95%.

Manchester Airport is the second-most stressful airport in the UK and the ninth-most stressful airport in Europe for travellers, scoring 50.9 out of 100 for stress from delays. Manchester has the UK's second-worst (Europe’s sixth-worst) percentage of punctual arrivals, at 67.8%, and the UK’s worst and Europe’s fifteenth-worst percentage of punctual departures, at 65.8%.

London Stansted Airport ranks third in the UK and tenth in Europe for the most stressful airports, with a score of 49.9 out of 100. Stansted’s score was impacted the most by the third-lowest percentage of punctual arrivals in the UK and eighth-lowest in Europe, at 68.77%.

Birmingham Airport is the UK’s fourth-most stressful airport and Europe’s thirteenth-most stressful airport. The airport scores 49.1 out of 100 for delay-related stress so far in 2025. Birmingham Airport’s score was affected most by the thirteenth-worst percentage of punctual arrivals in Europe, at 71.02%.

Bristol Airport scores 46.4 out of 100 for stress caused by schedule disruptions, ranking it as the UK’s fifth-most and Europe’s seventeenth-most stressful airport. Bristol’s worst-performing metric was its percentage of punctual arrivals at 67.4%. This is the worst rate in the UK and the fifth-worst in Europe. However, its 96.22% operated schedules percentage is the UK’s second-best and Europe’s fifteenth-best.

London Luton Airport ranks sixth in the UK and eighteenth in Europe for the most stressful airports for travellers, scoring 46.3 out of 100 for stress caused by delays. Luton Airport’s worst-performing metric is its percentage of flights operating to schedule, at 92.17%. This is the eleventh-worst in Europe and the second-worst in the UK. It also has Europe’s sixteenth-worst percentage of punctual arrivals, at 72.8%.

Edinburgh Airport is the second-least stressful airport in the UK and the twenty-seventh-least in Europe, with a score of 36.5 out of 100 for schedule-related stress. Edinburgh’s score was raised most by its 71.22% of punctual departures, the third-best in the UK and twenty-second in Europe, followed closely by its 95.76% of flights operating to the planned schedule.

Heathrow Airport is the least stressful airport in the UK and the fourth-least stressful airport in Europe, scoring 11.1 out of 100 for stress caused by delays in 2025. Heathrow’s low score comes from Europe’s best percentage of flights operating to its planned schedule (97.95%), Europe’s sixth-best percentage of punctual arrivals (80.57%), and Europe’s fifth-best percentage of punctual departures (78.69%). Heathrow’s performance in all metrics so far in 2025 are all the best in the UK.

Across Europe, Nice Côte d’Azur Airport in France is the most stressful major airport for travellers in 2025, scoring 91.4 out of 100 for schedule-related stress. Nice scored poorly across all three factors, with the study’s second-worst percentage of flights operating to a planned schedule, at 85.82%, the second-worst percentage of punctual departures, at 54.82%, and the third-worst percentage of punctual arrivals, at 66.77%.

As for the least stressful airport in Europe in 2025, Oslo Airport in Norway ranks top, with the Norwegian capital’s airport scoring just 2.2 out of 100 for delay-related stress. The airport has the study’s best percentage of punctual arrivals (83.76%), the second-best percentage of punctual departures (83.96%), and the fourth-best percentage of flights operating to the planned schedule (97.28%).

“Flying is always a bit stressful. From packing to check-in, to security, to the trip to the gate, there are plenty of places where the stress can build, and that’s before you’ve even boarded your flight!” commented a spokesperson from CBDolie.nl . “A delayed flight can push that stress to even greater levels, since that delay might turn into a cancellation or a missed connecting flight, depending on how bad the delay becomes.”

They continued: “With this in mind, we wanted to see which airports in Europe had the best record for minimising delays and the stress that comes with them, finding that Oslo Airport ranked best and Nice Côte d’Azur Airport ranked worst.

“What many travellers might not be aware of is that they may be entitled to financial compensation if their flight is significantly delayed under UK and EU law. This is in addition to the right to a full refund of the ticket, and the right to food, drink, accommodation, and travel to and from this accommodation paid for by the airline company, depending on the length of the delay and the flight that was delayed.”