Worst on time performance by holiday charters in years

Last summer, holidaymakers flying overseas from UK airports experienced the worst departure and arrival delays in eight years.

Just 59 per cent of the charter services arrived or departed on time – meaning within 15 minutes of the scheduled time – according to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) figures.

This performance rate was a decline of seven percentage points over the same period in 2007 – the months of July through September.

Also demonstrated by the figures is the widening gap between the performance of scheduled and charter services during the past year.

In 2007 the differences in performance were minor, particularly with Heathrow being criticized frequently for the miserable conditions that passengers were forced to endure.

While on time performance worsened among charter flights, most typically used by holidaymakers on package tours, the performance of regularly-scheduled services showed marked improvement, with 70 per cent of flights operating on time.

The 70 per cent figure was an improvement of four percentage points over the same period in 2007.

Gatwick and Heathrow both reported performance improvements of six percentage points, and London City reported an improvement of five points.

It is thought, however, that part of the improved results can be attributed to additional breathing space that has come about by the reduction of capacity by airlines dealing with falling passenger demand.

www.caa.co.uk