UK FLIGHT DELAY INDEX

derived from CAA punctuality statistics for UK reporting airports

How often are these flights late or cancelled?

Norse Atlantic UK Ltd

In the twelve months from July 2025 to June 2026, 34.8% of 1,030 movements arriving into the UK were disrupted — more than fifteen minutes late or cancelled at short notice.

Put the other way round, 65.2% of 1,030 movements met the fifteen-minute convention. These are historical observations, not a forecast.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Source: CAA punctuality statistics · snapshot 17/08/2026 10:24 · method route-record-v2.1 · Versioned claims, formulas and entity mapping.

0 operations (0.00%) excluded because their published percentages could not be reconciled to whole numbers. Excluded operations enter neither the numerator nor the denominator. Outcome figures and comparisons are unavailable when the excluded share exceeds fifteen percent.

The four numbers at a glance

34.8% of 1,030 movements were disrupted over July 2025 to June 2026.

Average delay covers delayed movements only. Its range reflects rounded source means and the unknown count of exactly punctual movements.

DisruptionShort-notice cancellationsDelay among delayed movementsOver three hours
34.8% of 1,030 movements2.2% of 1,030 movements59.5–93.8 minutes; delayed denominator 335–5113.2% of 1,030 movements
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

When late, how late?

3.2% of 1,030 movements passed the three-hour mark.

The ladder shows how many movements crossed each threshold. Cancellations are separate: 2.2% of 1,030 movements.

DelayShare and sampleOne event per movements
More than 15 minutes32.5% of 1,030 movements3.1
More than 30 minutes23.2% of 1,030 movements4.3
More than 60 minutes12.5% of 1,030 movements8.0
More than 120 minutes5.7% of 1,030 movements17.5
More than 180 minutes3.2% of 1,030 movements31.2
More than 360 minutes0.7% of 1,030 movements147.1
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Slightly late or occasionally a disaster?

5.7% of 1,030 movements passed two hours.

The histogram shows the published delay bands. Bucket shares use all reported operations, including unmatched records; cancellations are reported separately.

Nine delay buckets, minutes; share of all recorded operations>15 early20419.8%15–1 early29228.3%0–15 late17617.1%16–30969.3%31–6011010.7%61…120706.8%121…180262.5%181…360262.5%>36070.7%D=1,030
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Better or worse since the start of the archive?

Best month: Feb 2024, 6.1% of 66 movements. Worst month: Dec 2024, 70.8% of 89 movements.

The line traces every month. Lower disruption is better; gaps are never zeros. Pandemic readings describe a different operating regime.

Monthly disruption share; gaps mean no published dataJan 2018: no data×2018Feb 2018: no data×Mar 2018: no data×Apr 2018: no data×May 2018: no data×Jun 2018: no data×Jul 2018: no data×Aug 2018: no data×Sep 2018: no data×Oct 2018: no data×Nov 2018: no data×Dec 2018: no data×Jan 2019: no data×2019Feb 2019: no data×Mar 2019: no data×Apr 2019: no data×May 2019: no data×Jun 2019: no data×Jul 2019: no data×Aug 2019: no data×Sep 2019: no data×Oct 2019: no data×Nov 2019: no data×Dec 2019: no data×Jan 2020: no data×2020Feb 2020: no data×Mar 2020: no data×Apr 2020: no data×May 2020: no data×Jun 2020: no data×Jul 2020: no data×Aug 2020: no data×Sep 2020: no data×Oct 2020: no data×Nov 2020: no data×Dec 2020: no data×Jan 2021: no data×2021Feb 2021: no data×Mar 2021: no data×Apr 2021: no data×May 2021: no data×Jun 2021: no data×Jul 2021: no data×Aug 2021: no data×Sep 2021: no data×Oct 2021: no data×Nov 2021: no data×Dec 2021: no data×Jan 2022: no data×2022Feb 2022: no data×Mar 2022: no data×Apr 2022: no data×May 2022: no data×Jun 2022: no data×Jul 2022: no data×Aug 2022: no data×Sep 2022: no data×Oct 2022: no data×Nov 2022: no data×Dec 2022: no data×Jan 2023: no data×2023Feb 2023: no data×Mar 2023: no data×Apr 2023: 33.3%; sample: 30May 2023: 27.0%; sample: 37Jun 2023: 47.1%; sample: 85Jul 2023: 42.0%; sample: 150Aug 2023: 33.8%; sample: 151Sep 2023: 20.8%; sample: 144Oct 2023: 16.0%; sample: 106Nov 2023: 9.3%; sample: 86Dec 2023: 25.4%; sample: 118Jan 2024: 19.0%; sample: 1002024Feb 2024: 6.1%; sample: 66Mar 2024: 13.0%; sample: 92Apr 2024: 20.4%; sample: 98May 2024: 21.4%; sample: 112Jun 2024: 31.3%; sample: 147Jul 2024: 34.7%; sample: 150Aug 2024: 21.1%; sample: 152Sep 2024: 23.7%; sample: 118Oct 2024: 28.3%; sample: 92Nov 2024: 57.9%; sample: 76Dec 2024: 70.8%; sample: 89Jan 2025: 42.0%; sample: 812025Feb 2025: 34.2%; sample: 73Mar 2025: 62.5%; sample: 80Apr 2025: 30.6%; sample: 98May 2025: 28.6%; sample: 112Jun 2025: 33.6%; sample: 116Jul 2025: 29.4%; sample: 119Aug 2025: 35.8%; sample: 123Sep 2025: 19.1%; sample: 94Oct 2025: 22.5%; sample: 89Nov 2025: 45.3%; sample: 86Dec 2025: 58.8%; sample: 97Jan 2026: 57.1%; sample: 842026Feb 2026: 47.4%; sample: 76Mar 2026: 44.8%; sample: 87Apr 2026: 16.2%; sample: 68May 2026: 10.6%; sample: 47Jun 2026: 10.0%; sample: 60Pandemic regime Jun 2020Summer 2022 breakdown Jul 2022NATS system failure Aug 2023Heathrow fire closure Mar 2025100%0%
Every monthly observation
MonthDisruption on arrivals
Jan 2018no data
Feb 2018no data
Mar 2018no data
Apr 2018no data
May 2018no data
Jun 2018no data
Jul 2018no data
Aug 2018no data
Sep 2018no data
Oct 2018no data
Nov 2018no data
Dec 2018no data
Jan 2019no data
Feb 2019no data
Mar 2019no data
Apr 2019no data
May 2019no data
Jun 2019no data
Jul 2019no data
Aug 2019no data
Sep 2019no data
Oct 2019no data
Nov 2019no data
Dec 2019no data
Jan 2020no data
Feb 2020no data
Mar 2020no data
Apr 2020no data
May 2020no data
Jun 2020no data
Jul 2020no data
Aug 2020no data
Sep 2020no data
Oct 2020no data
Nov 2020no data
Dec 2020no data
Jan 2021no data
Feb 2021no data
Mar 2021no data
Apr 2021no data
May 2021no data
Jun 2021no data
Jul 2021no data
Aug 2021no data
Sep 2021no data
Oct 2021no data
Nov 2021no data
Dec 2021no data
Jan 2022no data
Feb 2022no data
Mar 2022no data
Apr 2022no data
May 2022no data
Jun 2022no data
Jul 2022no data
Aug 2022no data
Sep 2022no data
Oct 2022no data
Nov 2022no data
Dec 2022no data
Jan 2023no data
Feb 2023no data
Mar 2023no data
Apr 202333.3% of 30 movements — small sample, not ranked
May 202327.0% of 37 movements — small sample, not ranked
Jun 202347.1% of 85 movements
Jul 202342.0% of 150 movements
Aug 202333.8% of 151 movements
Sep 202320.8% of 144 movements
Oct 202316.0% of 106 movements
Nov 20239.3% of 86 movements
Dec 202325.4% of 118 movements
Jan 202419.0% of 100 movements
Feb 20246.1% of 66 movements
Mar 202413.0% of 92 movements
Apr 202420.4% of 98 movements
May 202421.4% of 112 movements
Jun 202431.3% of 147 movements
Jul 202434.7% of 150 movements
Aug 202421.1% of 152 movements
Sep 202423.7% of 118 movements
Oct 202428.3% of 92 movements
Nov 202457.9% of 76 movements
Dec 202470.8% of 89 movements
Jan 202542.0% of 81 movements
Feb 202534.2% of 73 movements
Mar 202562.5% of 80 movements
Apr 202530.6% of 98 movements
May 202528.6% of 112 movements
Jun 202533.6% of 116 movements
Jul 202529.4% of 119 movements
Aug 202535.8% of 123 movements
Sep 202519.1% of 94 movements
Oct 202522.5% of 89 movements
Nov 202545.3% of 86 movements
Dec 202558.8% of 97 movements
Jan 202657.1% of 84 movements
Feb 202647.4% of 76 movements
Mar 202644.8% of 87 movements
Apr 202616.2% of 68 movements
May 202610.6% of 47 movements — small sample, not ranked
Jun 202610.0% of 60 movements
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

What did the big disruptions do here?

Each event is compared with the twelve preceding calendar months and the first later return to baseline.

A worse month is not proof the named event caused it. The open data carry no delay-cause field. Recovery is observed for at most eight subsequent months.

EventDirectionDisruption that monthBaseline beforeReturn to baseline
Pandemic regime · Jun 2020Arrivalsno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
Pandemic regime · Jun 2020Departuresno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
Summer 2022 breakdown · Jul 2022Arrivalsno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
Summer 2022 breakdown · Jul 2022Departuresno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
NATS system failure · Aug 2023Arrivals33.8% of 151 movementsno complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
NATS system failure · Aug 2023Departures48.0% of 150 movementsno complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
Heathrow fire closure · Mar 2025Arrivals62.5% of 80 movements33.2% across 1,280 flightsreturned the next month
Heathrow fire closure · Mar 2025Departures34.6% of 81 movements33.9% across 1,274 flightsreturned the next month
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Which time of year has been hardest?

Highest median: Dec, 58.8% across 3 months. Lowest median: Sep, 20.8% across 3 months.

Even the same calendar month differs across years. This is a record, not a forecast; pandemic years are excluded from the summaries.

Each cell is one calendar month of one year; the number is the share of that month’s arrivals that were disrupted. Darker means worse. A blank cell means no published data, not zero.

Seasonality: calendar month by year; share and nJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2019no datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano data2020no datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano data2021no datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano data2022no datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano data2023no datano datano data33.3% of 30 movements †27.0% of 37 movements †47.1% of 85 movements42.0% of 150 movements33.8% of 151 movements20.8% of 144 movements16.0% of 106 movements9.3% of 86 movements25.4% of 118 movements202419.0% of 100 movements6.1% of 66 movements13.0% of 92 movements20.4% of 98 movements21.4% of 112 movements31.3% of 147 movements34.7% of 150 movements21.1% of 152 movements23.7% of 118 movements28.3% of 92 movements57.9% of 76 movements70.8% of 89 movements202542.0% of 81 movements34.2% of 73 movements62.5% of 80 movements30.6% of 98 movements28.6% of 112 movements33.6% of 116 movements29.4% of 119 movements35.8% of 123 movements19.1% of 94 movements22.5% of 89 movements45.3% of 86 movements58.8% of 97 movements202657.1% of 84 movements47.4% of 76 movements44.8% of 87 movements16.2% of 68 movements10.6% of 47 movements †10.0% of 60 movementsno datano datano datano datano datano data
Month-by-month table: median, observed range and sample
MonthMedianObserved rangeSample
Jan42.0%19.0–57.1%3 months, 265 flights
Feb34.2%6.1–47.4%3 months, 215 flights
Mar44.8%13.0–62.5%3 months, 259 flights
Apr25.5%16.2–33.3%4 months, 294 flights
May24.2%10.6–28.6%4 months, 308 flights
Jun32.5%10.0–47.1%4 months, 408 flights
Jul34.7%29.4–42.0%3 months, 419 flights
Aug33.8%21.1–35.8%3 months, 426 flights
Sep20.8%19.1–23.7%3 months, 356 flights
Oct22.5%16.0–28.3%3 months, 287 flights
Nov45.3%9.3–57.9%3 months, 248 flights
Dec58.8%25.4–70.8%3 months, 304 flights
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Which routes have the best and worst record?

Lowest disruption: LGW ↔ MIAMI-INTERNATIONAL, 16.7% of 78 movements. Highest disruption: LGW ↔ BANGKOK-SUVARNABHUMI, 69.2% of 104 movements.

The airline table uses this carrier on each route; airport and country tables combine carriers. Each figure is arrivals into its UK airport. Only sufficiently large exact samples enter the ordered comparison.

Observed disruption share by optionLgw ↔ Miami-International16.7% of 78 flightsLgw ↔ Los-Angeles-International20.0% of 85 flightsLgw ↔ Cape-Town25.7% of 140 flightsLgw ↔ Orlando30.4% of 257 flightsLgw ↔ New-York-Jf-Kennedy30.4% of 289 flightsLgw ↔ Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi69.2% of 104 flights
All route comparisons and sample flags
RouteDisruptionCancellationsSample flag
LGW ↔ MIAMI-INTERNATIONAL16.7% of 78 movements1.3% of 78 movementsdescriptive comparison
LGW ↔ LOS-ANGELES-INTERNATIONAL20.0% of 85 movementsno events in 85 movementsdescriptive comparison
LGW ↔ CAPE-TOWN25.7% of 140 movements2.1% of 140 movementsdescriptive comparison
Gatwick ↔ Orlando30.4% of 257 movements1.2% of 257 movementsdescriptive comparison
LGW ↔ NEW-YORK-JF-KENNEDY30.4% of 289 movements4.8% of 289 movementsdescriptive comparison
LGW ↔ BANGKOK-SUVARNABHUMI69.2% of 104 movements1.9% of 104 movementsdescriptive comparison
MAN ↔ BRIDGETOWN51.7% of 29 movements — small sample, not rankedno events in 29 movements — small sample, not rankedsmall sample; not ranked
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Which UK airports appear in this record?

2 published groups have enough arrivals to describe.

These operations are not matched for season, aircraft or time of day. The table makes no causal comparison.

UK airportDisruptionSample flag
Gatwick33.0% of 974 movementsdescriptive comparison
Manchester65.5% of 55 movementsdescriptive comparison
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Arrivals vs departures

34.8% of 1,030 movements arrivals were disrupted, against 31.6% of 1,021 movements departures.

The directions have separate denominators. A departure delay does not establish late arrival at the final destination; legal conditions differ by direction and carrier.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Movements past the three-hour mark

3.2% of 1,030 movements were more than three hours late over July 2025 to June 2026.

Cancellation is counted separately and is not a three-hour delay. Monthly counts cannot establish a passenger claim.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Facts about this record

Norse Atlantic UK Ltd appears from Apr 2023 to Jun 2026 with 3,789 arrivals.

The bounds describe the published record, not every commercial service. Final point is not necessarily a nonstop destination.

Archive route pairs: 22.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

What this data cannot tell you

Delay cause, individual passenger experience, commercial decisions and future performance are not established here.

Also absent are aircraft type, within-month time-of-day splits and cancellations made ahead of the short-notice reporting window.

0 operations (0.00%) excluded because their published percentages could not be reconciled to whole numbers. Excluded operations enter neither the numerator nor the denominator. Outcome figures and comparisons are unavailable when the excluded share exceeds fifteen percent.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Quick answers

These answers use the same populations and window as the tables above.

Every percentage retains its denominator.

How disrupted are these arrivals?

34.8% of 1,030 movements over July 2025 to June 2026.

How often are they cancelled?

2.2% of 1,030 movements at short notice.

How late is late?

59.5–93.8 minutes; delayed denominator 335–511

Are services improving?

The monthly line records past changes; it is not a forecast or a causal comparison.

Which routes are compared?

The route table uses separately identified UK airport and final-point pairs, with small samples flagged.

Does this cover my flight?

Only published aggregate movements; the circumstances of any individual flight are unknown.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

How this was calculated

Source: CAA punctuality statistics · snapshot 17/08/2026 10:24 · method route-record-v2.1 · Versioned claims, formulas and entity mapping.

Integer bucket counts are recovered from rounding intervals over D=M+C+U with their sum constrained to M. Ambiguous counts remain ranges; failed reconciliation is quarantined.

Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.

Your trip has already gone wrong

The monthly line and events table show whether your month was typical or unusual in the published record.

Nothing here decides an individual case or what a passenger may be owed.

CAA: the official route to complain
Definitions, denominators and limits

Arrivals into UK reporting airports only unless labelled departures. Denominator: operated movements plus short-notice cancellations (M+C). A movement is not a scheduled flight. Unmatched records are data quality, not outcomes. Cells below twenty movements are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive and not ranked.