By Steve Taggart
New research has revealed that the UK aviation industry suffered a summer of misery with one in five flights delayed, up ten per cent on 2013.
The figures, released by flightright.co.uk, found about 161,570 of the estimated 752,000 flights that passed through UK airports this summer were delayed, representing 21 per cent of all flights. This was a ten per cent uplift in the number of delays on last year.
Flights from Gatwick to Spain were worse affected, with Gatwick to Barcelona registering the highest number of UK flights with a delay of more than three hours. For flights delayed by more than three hours, the average delay was 4 hours 42 minutes.
Flightright calculates that 397,000 UK air passengers are entitled to more than £128 million in untapped compensation for flights delayed or cancelled over the June to August period.
The five routes from UK airports to European destinations which registered the most flights with a delay of more than three hours were:
1. London Gatwick to Barcelona-El Prat
2. London Gatwick to Palma de Mallorca
3. Manchester to Palma de Mallorca
4. London Gatwick to Faro
5. London Gatwick to Málaga
The five routes from UK airports to European destinations which registered the most cancellations were:
1. London City to Paris Orly
2. London Heathrow to Frankfurt
3. London Heathrow to Düsseldorf
4. London Heathrow to Amsterdam Schipol
5. London City to Zurich
Marek Janetzke, Managing Director of flightright, commented: “UK passengers have up to six years to make a claim compensation so it’s not too late to claim for flight delays over the summer.
“Often people are unaware that it only takes a three hour delay to be eligible for compensation of around £200. Potential compensation can reach up to £475 per passenger depending on the flight distance and delay time.
“Unfortunately most passengers do not know about their rights. Airlines mostly leave them without any information about it or even negate that their customers are entitled to compensation.”
The figures are based on a flightright evaluation of flights between June and August 2014 and the same period in 2013.
