Delayed flight? It’s the norm now

A passenger sleeps on a row of seats at Gatwick Airport, near London, England, Monday, April 19, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded around the world since the volcano in southern Iceland begun erupting Wednesday for the second time in a month. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A passenger sleeps on a row of seats at Gatwick Airport, near London, England, Monday, April 19, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded around the world since the volcano in southern Iceland begun erupting Wednesday for the second time in a month. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Published Mar 8, 2016

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London - Delays at British airports soared to a five-year high last summer.

The proportion of flights leaving on time in the peak July to September period fell from 76 percent in 2014 to 73 percent last year, the worst figure since 2010.

The average delay was 15 minutes, up a minute from the previous year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), whose figures do not include cancelled flights.

CAA policy director Tim Johnson said airlines had responded to high demand by using larger aeroplanes, meaning it was taking longer for passengers to embark.

Just 69 percent of flights at London’s airports left on time last year, compared with 77 percent at regional airports. Gatwick had the longest average delays, at 23 minutes.

Just over 78 million passengers flew from Britain during the peak period, a 5.5 percent rise on the previous year.

Daily Mail

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