Punctuality at United Kingdom's
airports fell 4 percent in the second quarter of 2010, according to figures
released Friday by the country's Civil Aviation Authority. The on-time record
for scheduled flights at 10 airports monitored by CAA, including London
Heathrow and Gatwick, slipped from 82 percent in the same quarter last year to
78 percent. The average delay per flight climbed from 10 minutes to 14 minutes.
Gatwick experienced the biggest
decline in punctuality, down from 81 percent to 71 percent. Heathrow was down a more modest 2
percent to 78 percent. Only one U.K. airport improved its record: London City
Airport nudged up from 87 percent to 88 percent.
CAA said the volcanic ash crisis
in April and May had little influence on the figures because nearly all
affected flights were canceled rather than delayed. It added that there was a
smaller deterioration in punctuality in April than in the other two months in
the quarter.
Figures from the research company
FlightStats released earlier this month showed that one U.K. airport,
Manchester, had at 50 percent the worst on-time arrival record of any European
airport among the world's 50 busiest in August. Only China's three leading
airports and Miami were worse. The best European performer was Amsterdam
Schiphol, which was tenth at 81 percent.
FlightStats figures also showed the European airline with the best
punctuality in August was Widerøe of Norway, at 96 percent. Among the major
carriers, the top was SAS at 93 percent, followed by KLM and Finnair, both at
89 percent.