Flying is unpleasant at the best of times, but there are few worse feelings in the world than being tired, stressed, and stuck in a liminal purgatory where the sole establishment is overpriced fast food joint – all only to find out you’ll have to be there for longer.
And some UK airports are much worse for delays than others. A study by software company Tripplo crunched some numbers from the Civil Aviation Authority throughout 2023 to uncover which airports in Britain are least likely to run on time.
According to Tripplo, Aberdeen airport is officially the worst for delays in the UK. Sitting with an average delay of just under 21 minutes, ABZ was the worst by quite some way, so avoid it if you can. That being said, the nearest big airport is Edinburgh, which claimed seventh place in the study with an average wait time of 13 minutes, so perhaps your best bet is to just avoid east-Scotland airspace all together.
Second place was the Isle of Man airport, where you can expect your flights to be about 16 minutes late. You might think that that Heathrow would be somewhere in the top three, considering the ongoing threat of strikes, but you’d be wrong. Gatwick claimed third place instead, with a median of 15 and a half minutes of delays to be expected.
If you’re thinking ‘that’s fine, I’ll just fly into one of London’s other airports,’ we have some bad news: Luton, Heathrow, and Stansted were in spots five, six, and ten respectively. London City has never looked so good. Here’s how Tripplo’s full ranking shaped up.
The UK airports with the longest average delays in the UK
- Aberdeen, 20.70 minutes
- Isle of Man, 16.22 mins
- London Gatwick, 15.47 mins
- Manchester, 14.02 mins
- London Luton, 13.58 mins
- London Heathrow, 13.56 mins
- Edinburgh, 13.31 mins
- Teeside International, 12.51 mins
- Bristol, 12.44 mins
- Stansted, 12.43 mins
What else is going on in the world of British aviation?
Time Out knows. For instance, we keep up with things like the fact that easyJet is launching two new routes from the UK, and who the best airline in the country is right now. We also keep you updated on this brand new affordable airline will be jetting off from British airports this summer, and the bad news that Ryanair flights are due to see a price hike.
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