Gatwick Airport named UK's worst for flight delays in second year in row with Birmingham coming in second

The data is an improvement for Gatwick from nearly 27 minutes in the previous 12 months but it is still longer than at any other domestic airport, said the Civil Aviation Authority. It makes the West Sussex airport’s record the least punctual in the UK for a second successive year.

The Civil Aviation Authority figures showed Birmingham airport had the second poorest delay record in 2024, with an average of more than 21 minutes, followed by Manchester at 20 minutes. The average delay for all UK flights last year was 18 minutes and 24 seconds, down from 20 minutes and 42 seconds in 2023.

While airlines and airports across Europe have suffered disruption from ATC issues, Nats staff shortages had also directly affected Gatwick’s own outsourced control tower. A spokesperson for the airport, which hopes to almost double its capacity with a plan for a second runway awaiting government sign-off, said that the tower staffing issues were fully resolved.

The airport also managed to avoid threatened disruption over the busy Easter weekend, with a strike by ground-handlers in the Unite union having “no operational impact” and causing no cancellations or significant delays, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added: “Air traffic control restrictions in other parts of Europe have continued to impact the airport. Together with our airlines, we’ve put in place a robust plan … to improve on-time performance further in 2025.”

Belfast City (George Best) airport recorded the best punctuality performance in the UK for the second year in a row, with a typical delay per flight of less than 12 minutes. The analysis took into account scheduled and chartered departures from the 22 commercial UK airports with at least 1,000 outbound flights last year. Cancellations were not included.