Manchester Airport ranked worst in the UK for flight delays
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Manchester Airport has been ranked the worst in the UK for flight delays, aviation authority data suggests.
Departures from the country's busiest airport were 19.5 minutes behind schedule on average last year, according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Despite being an improvement on 30 seconds compared to 2024, Manchester still has the worst delays in the UK.
Which? Travel editor Rory Boland said: “Manchester Airport has ranked last in our airport survey for four consecutive years and these new CAA figures validate why this is a particularly poor place to be stranded during delays.
“For passengers already wary of travel uncertainty, seeing such consistent underperformance makes it difficult to book with any real confidence.”
Manchester Airport, the UK's only two-runway airport other than Heathrow, was used by 32 million passengers in 2025.
Upgrades to Terminal 3 are ongoing, and the airport recently completed a 10-year and £1.3 billion transformation, which included closing Terminal 1 and doubling the size of Terminal 2.
Second and third in the list were Birmingham's and Bournemouth's airports, with an average delay of 18 minutes, 42 seconds and 17 minutes, 18 seconds respectively.
At the other end of the list, Liverpool John Lennon Airport had the most punctual flights, with an average delay of nine minutes and 24 seconds.
A spokesperson for trade body AirportsUK said passengers are “benefitting from improvements in the service they receive”, and delays in 2025 were “down significantly on the previous year”.
The full leaderboard
The following list, compiled by the Press Association, includes the 23 commercial UK airports that had at least 1,000 outbound flights in 2025:
- Manchester (19 minutes and 30 seconds)
- Birmingham (18 minutes and 42 seconds)
- Bournemouth (17 minutes and 18 seconds)
- Southampton (16 minutes and 36 seconds)
- Gatwick (16 minutes and 24 seconds)
- Newcastle (15 minutes and 48 seconds)
=7. Leeds Bradford (15 minutes and 36 seconds)
=7. Stansted (15 minutes and 36 seconds)
- Edinburgh (15 minutes and 24 seconds)
- Teesside (15 minutes and six seconds)
=11. Cardiff (14 minutes and 54 seconds)
=11. Exeter (14 minutes and 54 seconds)
- Bristol (14 minutes and 36 seconds)
=14. London City (14 minutes and 12 seconds)
=14. Luton (14 minutes and 12 seconds)
- Heathrow (12 minutes and 42 seconds)
- Belfast International (12 minutes and 24 seconds)
=18. Glasgow (12 minutes and six seconds)
=18. Belfast City (12 minutes and six seconds)
- East Midlands (11 minutes and 48 seconds)
- Aberdeen (10 minutes and 54 seconds)
- Southend (10 minutes and 24 seconds)
- Liverpool John Lennon (Nine minutes and 24 seconds)
The airports' responses
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “Punctuality is affected by factors that are outside of an airport’s control.
“The two most significant factors contributing to delays in the last year have been industrial action affecting air traffic control in Europe, and the weather.
“These were exacerbated by airspace restrictions above conflict zones meaning airports with significant long-haul networks, like Manchester, were more significantly affected than others.
“As an industry we are working collectively to achieve the best possible on-time departure rates, while protecting flight schedules and avoiding the need for cancellations.”
A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport said: “Flight delays can happen for several reasons including industrial action and bad weather, some of which are out of an airport’s control.
"This month over half of all aircraft left on time and we continue to work hard to improve punctuality.
Our colleagues work tirelessly to provide brilliant passenger service, with the vast majority of people rating their experience as excellent.”
A spokesman for Bournemouth Airport said the reason for delays are outside its control “in the majority of cases”, and it is “one of the UK’s top-ranked regional airports for passenger satisfaction”.