Edinburgh Airport's unwelcome place in the top 5 as worst UK airports list for flight delays is revealed

Edinburgh has the fourth worst airport in the UK in terms of flight delays, according to new data based on figures for 2023.

According to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency, Edinburgh Airport had an average flight delay of 21 minutes and 48 seconds last year, over a minute more than the average across the UK. The closest other major airport geographically, Glasgow, had an average delay time of 16 minutes and 36 seconds in 2023.

Gatwick was the worst airport in the UK for flight delays. Departures from the West Sussex airport were an average of nearly 27 minutes behind schedule in 2023.

Luton airport had the second poorest punctuality record last year, with an average delay of almost 23 minutes. In third place was Manchester airport, at nearly 22 minutes.

Belfast City (George Best) airport had the best performance, with a typical delay of 12-and-a-half minutes.

The analysis took into account all scheduled and chartered departures from the 22 commercial UK airports with at least 1,000 outbound flights last year. Cancellations were not included.

The average delay for flights across all airports was almost 20 minutes and 42 seconds, down from 23 minutes and 12 seconds in 2022, when the aviation sector struggled to cope with a surge in demand for holidays following the end of coronavirus travel restrictions.

Naomi Leach, deputy editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: "It's clear from these latest figures that millions of passengers continued to experience unacceptably long hold-ups last year. This cannot be allowed to become the new normal."

CAA director Tim Johnson said it is vital the aviation sector "focuses on resilience" ahead of the summer holiday period to "keep passenger disruption to a minimum". He added: "Where people do find themselves facing disruption, we want them to be well-informed about the duty of care that they are entitled to.”

A spokesperson for trade body the Airport Operators Association said: "Airports work extremely hard to minimise delays while providing a positive, safe and secure experience for passengers. These figures do not provide any of the context around operating in a global environment and do not give the travelling public a clear picture of how air travel operates."