Dublin and Cork airports among the most delayed UK flight routes
A new report has revealed that flights to Dublin Airport are among the most delayed routes from the UK.
The Delay to Departure Report, created by business communications provider Esendex, used FlightRadar24 to analyse over 250 flight routes from the UK over the past year to establish the routes where passengers are most likely to be delayed, arrive on time, or even ahead of schedule as Brits look towards a summer getaway.
Flights from London Gatwick to Dublin are among the most delayed routes, with passengers facing an average 17 minute delay.
Other routes including flights from Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London Luton were among the most delayed routes, as well as flights from Bristol Airport to Cork.
The most delayed routes into Ireland
| Home Airport | Destination Airport | Airline | Flight Code | Average scheduled arrival | Average actual arrival | Time delayed |
| London Gatwick | Dublin – Ireland | Ryanair | FR113 | 11:05 | 11:22 | 0:17 |
| Edinburgh Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI3251 | 9:29 | 9:42 | 0:13 |
| Bristol Airport | Cork – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI3843 | 17:19 | 17:32 | 0:13 |
| Manchester Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI203 | 9:10 | 9:17 | 0:07 |
| Birmingham International Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI263 | 9:31 | 9:38 | 0:07 |
| London Luton | Dublin – Ireland | Ryanair | FR3311 | 13:24 | 13:30 | 0:06 |
| Leeds Bradford Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI3391 | 9:54 | 10:00 | 0:06 |
| Glasgow Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI3221 | 9:30 | 9:35 | 0:05 |
| Bristol Airport | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI3281 | 9:35 | 9:40 | 0:05 |
Passengers jetting off to the Middle East were second most affected by delays as those travelling on the Birmingham International to Dubai route faced an average delay of 30 minutes.
London Airports, Gatwick and Luton, were the only capital airports to feature in the top 20 most delayed routes with passengers travelling from London Gatwick to Milan Malpensa facing average delays of 20 minutes.
Top 10 Most Delayed Routes
At the other end of the spectrum, London Heathrow to Delhi was named as the earliest arrival route, where passengers were touching down in India on average 35 minutes early. It’s joined at the top of the earliest arrival routes by Belfast City to Frankfurt, with passengers also benefiting from a 35-minute early arrival.
Passengers flying to Dublin from London Heathrow also benefited from a 13- minute early arrival.
Top 10 Early Arrival Routes
| Home Airport | Destination Airport | Airline | Flight Code | Average scheduled arrival | Average actual arrival | Time Arrived Early |
| London Heathrow | Indira Gandhi International – India | Air India | AI162 | 21:08 | 20:33 | 0:35 |
| Belfast City Airport | Frankfurt – Germany | Lufthansa | LH1529 | 16:43 | 16:08 | 0:35 |
| Manchester Airport | Prague – Czech Republic | Ryanair | FR6838 | 15:42 | 15:09 | 0:33 |
| Liverpool John Lennon Airport | Iasi – Romania | Wizz Air | W43698 | 12:47 | 12:26 | 0:21 |
| London Stansted | Milan Malpensa – Italy | Ryanair | FR2757 | 13:23 | 13:03 | 0:20 |
| Bristol Airport | Belfast International – Northern Ireland | easyJet | U22957 | 11:27 | 11:11 | 0:16 |
| London Heathrow | Newark Liberty – New York | United Airlines | UA883 | 10:53 | 10:38 | 0:15 |
| London Heathrow | JFK International – New York | British Airways | BA117 | 11:16 | 11:02 | 0:14 |
| Liverpool John Lennon Airport | Krakow – Poland | Ryanair | FR6360 | 14:12 | 13:58 | 0:14 |
| London Heathrow | Dublin – Ireland | Aer Lingus | EI151 | 9:04 | 8:50 | 0:13 |
Chris Gorman, Head of Professional Services at Esendex commented on the report:
“A delayed flight can cause a lot of anxiety, adding to an already stressful situation for many of us. Whether that’s impacting further travel plans once landed, or causing issues with accommodation, flight delays can cause havoc to travel itineraries.
“It’s vital that airlines have the right digital infrastructure in place to ensure passengers are kept up to date, with the correct information and crucially, to allow passengers to stay in contact with airlines as a solution is being sought.
“Ensuring processes like WhatsApp for Business, automated SMS solutions or SMS Landing pages are in place, will not only improve the customer service experience of the passengers but can also reduce the administrative challenges facing the airline too.”
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Methodology
Esendex listed the most common flight routes and their flight codes based on upcoming scheduled flights at 20 major UK Airports using Flightsfrom.com.
Esendex then took the most commonly scheduled flight code and used FlightRadar24 to analyse every completed flight per flight code, over the past year, taking an average scheduled arrival time and an average actual arrival time. The resulting time difference then revealed whether a flight route was on average delayed, early or on time.
In total, Esendex analysed over 250 flight routes.