Britain's worst airport for flight cancellations revealed – are you flying from there this summer?

The Sun

18-06-2025

Roisin Chapman, Lifestyle Reporter
Published: Invalid Date,
THE British airport with the most flight cancellations has officially been named.
New data revealed the amount of flights axed at all major UK airports across 2023 and 2024.
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The new study was conducted by flight compensation specialists at AirAdvisor and analysed scheduled departures from 20 of the busiest airports by passenger traffic across the UK.
Hubs in England, Scotland, Wales, and the North of Ireland were studied over the last two years.
The research found that the average flight cancellation rate in 2024 was 1.46% across the UK airports.
This was a slight decline from the 1.78% recorded for 2023.
Southampton emerged as the UK's worst major airport for cancelled flights.
The location was followed by Belfast City, London City, Aberdeen, and Glasgow airports.
Punctuality statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) cited that 3.57% of flights from Southampton were cancelled in 2024.
According to the CAA, cancelled flights are defined as "the non-operation of a previously planned flight, announced less than 24 hours before or after its scheduled departure time".
Meanwhile, London's major airports, consisting of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, and London City, saw the number of flights cancelled fall by almost 15% between 2023 and 2024.
Belfast City Airport saw 3.31% of scheduled flights axed, which was down from 3.5% in 2023.
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Cancellations at London City Airport stood at 3.13%, a decrease from 4% the previous year.
Aberdeen Airport saw 2.7% of flights cancelled in 2024, while Glasgow Airport rang in at 2.15%.
On the other hand, the findings also revealed the five UK airports with the lowest cancellation rates in 2024.
Bournemouth took the top spot for the second year running with a rate of just 0.08%.
East Midlands International came in second at 0.39%, followed by Belfast International at 0.41%, Luton at 0.58%, and Bristol at 0.66%.
"The UK aviation industry is still in something of a recovery mode post-pandemic, however there is light at the end of the tunnel," said Anton Radchenko, CEO of AirAdvisor.
"This is reflected by the average cancellation rates at most major airports decreasing, which is promising to see."
He revealed that several airports across the UK have cancellation rates that are more than double the national average.
"These airports and their airline partners simply must do better. And passengers deserve better," he continued.
"Fortunately, British air passengers are protected by comprehensive legislation that entitles you to up to £520 in compensation if your flight to or from the UK, or with a UK or EU-based airline is cancelled with less than two weeks' notice, depending on the circumstances that led to the cancellation."
And for customers whose journeys have been affected by cancelled flights, he advised using a free compensation calculator to figure out what you are owed.
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