Worst UK airlines and routes for flight delays revealed

CAA ranking

The Civil Aviation Authority has published its latest punctuality analysis of UK departures, putting Air India at the bottom of the table for a second consecutive year.

The annual ranking covers scheduled and chartered departures from UK airports by 34 airlines that each operated more than 2,500 flights last year. Cancelled flights were excluded from the analysis.

Air India recorded an average departure delay of 36 minutes and 36 seconds, according to the figures cited in the coverage. The overall average delay across the airlines in the study was 14 minutes and 48 seconds, down from 18 minutes and 18 seconds in 2024.

Tui Airways was also among the five worst-performing airlines, with an average departure delay of 20 minutes and 24 seconds. At the other end of the table, Scandinavian Airlines was the best performer, with an average UK departure delay of eight minutes.

Worst routes

The ranking also highlighted route-level disruption. In the coverage of the CAA data, Tui's Birmingham-to-Zante route was identified as the most delayed route, with an average delay of 46 minutes.

That route figure gives the ranking a direct consumer angle. For passengers, delays are not just an operational nuisance; they can affect connections, holiday plans and, in some cases, rights to assistance or compensation.

Passenger rights

CAA director Tim Johnson said long delays can cause disruption and inconvenience, and that airlines are expected to minimise the impact where possible.

Compensation is not automatic, however. Passengers have to claim from the airline if the delay was the airline's fault.

Airline reaction

Airlines UK said most delays are caused by factors outside airline control, including weather, capacity restrictions and industrial action.

Tui said it prioritises getting passengers to their destinations and argued that avoiding cancellations can affect punctuality rankings.

Which? travel editor Rory Boland said passengers continue to face unreliable service and that airlines should do more to support travellers and explain compensation rights.

What the ranking shows

The new table is an annual comparison of operational reliability rather than a single disruption event. Even so, it underlines how widely performance can vary across airlines serving UK airports.

It also shows that the sector improved overall year on year, even as some carriers and routes still recorded long average delays. For passengers, that makes punctuality a practical factor to weigh alongside price and route choice.