UK FLIGHT DELAY INDEX

derived from CAA punctuality statistics for UK reporting airports

How often are these flights late or cancelled?

LTN ↔ CHISINAU INTERNATIONAL

In the twelve months from July 2025 to June 2026, 19.4% of 774 movements arriving into LTN were disrupted — that is, they landed more than fifteen minutes late or were cancelled at short notice.

Put the other way round, 80.6% of 774 movements arrived on time by the industry's fifteen-minute standard. Severe delays were rarer: about one arrival in every 97 crossed the three-hour mark. Lower is better on every figure on this page. These numbers describe what happened on the route; they are not a prediction for any individual flight.

Definitions, denominators and limits
  • “Disrupted” means an arrival more than fifteen minutes late or a short-notice cancellation. The denominator is operated movements plus short-notice cancellations.
  • Arrivals into the UK airport only; all published carriers.
  • Crossing three hours is one condition for compensation, but monthly data cannot establish any individual passenger’s rights.
  • Delay cause is not published in the open data.
  • Source: CAA punctuality statistics · snapshot 17/08/2026 10:24 · method route-record-v2.1.

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

In the twelve months from July 2025 to June 2026, 19.4% of 774 movements were disrupted and 0.6% of 774 movements were cancelled at short notice.

When a flight was late, it was typically late by the range shown below. The delay is given as a range, not a single number, because the regulator rounds its published percentages and never says how many flights landed exactly on time.

Disruption shareShort-notice cancellationsAverage delay among delayed flights only — boundsOperations
19.4% of 774 movements0.6% of 774 movements34.2–69.5 min; N of delayed flights=145–272774
Definitions, denominators and limits

The bounds account for CAA rounding and the unknown number of zero delays. A point average across all operated movements, including punctual ones, would answer a different question and is not used here.

When it is late, how late is it?

Most delays here are short. The ladder below shows how many arrivals crossed each threshold, from a quarter of an hour up to six hours; each rung can only be smaller than the one above it.

Cancellations are counted separately: 0.6% of 774 movements. “One in N” means how many arrivals you would typically see between events at that level.

Delay threshold ladder; count and share of known operations15 min18.7%30 min11.5%60 min6.5%120 min3.0%180 min1.0%360 min0.0%
Delay ladder table: share, movements and one-in-N
DelayShare and nMovementsOne delay in every N operations
>15 min18.7% of 774 movements1455.3
>30 min11.5% of 774 movements898.7
>60 min6.5% of 774 movements5015.5
>120 min3.0% of 774 movements2333.7
>180 min1.0% of 774 movements896.8
>360 minno events in 774 movements0no observed events, which is not zero risk
Definitions, denominators and limits

CAA counts delays strictly greater than each threshold, so exactly three hours is inseparable from the previous bucket. The ladder describes the archive, not a forecast.

Slightly late, or occasionally a disaster?

This route runs late less often than most, but when it does go wrong it tends to go badly wrong: its long delays are heavier than on the typical UK route.

The histogram below counts every recorded arrival, from more than fifteen minutes early through to more than six hours late. A tall bar near the middle and a thin right-hand tail is the healthy shape.

Nine delay buckets, minutes; share of all recorded operations>15 early29438.0%15–1 early20326.2%0–15 late12716.4%16–30567.2%31–60395.0%61…120273.5%121…180151.9%181…36081.0%>36000.0%D=774
Definitions, denominators and limits

Ratio of the long tail to sixteen-to-sixty-minute delays: 0.0842; corpus median 0.0217; 2056 routes in the corpus. The shape is compared conditionally among delays; the class name does not measure absolute frequency. Histogram counts and shares cover all recorded operations including unmatched records; reconstructed uniquely.

Has this route got better or worse since 2018?

Best month: Oct 2025, 4.3% of 69 movements. Worst month: Jun 2024, 45.6% of 57 movements.

The line traces every month in the archive; lower is better. Gaps are months with no published data, never zeros. The 2020 and 2021 readings reflect the pandemic, not normal service.

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: no data×May 2023: no data×Jun 2023: no data×Jul 2023: no data×Aug 2023: no data×Sep 2023: no data×Oct 2023: no data×Nov 2023: no data×Dec 2023: no data×Jan 2024: 22.7%; sample: 442024Feb 2024: 14.3%; sample: 42Mar 2024: 0.0%; sample: 45Apr 2024: 13.1%; sample: 61May 2024: 20.0%; sample: 55Jun 2024: 45.6%; sample: 57Jul 2024: 44.8%; sample: 58Aug 2024: 30.2%; sample: 63Sep 2024: 29.1%; sample: 55Oct 2024: 20.8%; sample: 53Nov 2024: 16.7%; sample: 42Dec 2024: 19.0%; sample: 58Jan 2025: 16.7%; sample: 542025Feb 2025: 17.5%; sample: 40Mar 2025: 9.5%; sample: 42Apr 2025: 11.7%; sample: 60May 2025: 7.8%; sample: 64Jun 2025: 17.7%; sample: 62Jul 2025: 35.6%; sample: 73Aug 2025: 33.8%; sample: 80Sep 2025: 31.9%; sample: 69Oct 2025: 4.3%; sample: 69Nov 2025: 8.6%; sample: 58Dec 2025: 21.9%; sample: 64Jan 2026: 23.0%; sample: 612026Feb 2026: 12.0%; sample: 50Mar 2026: 5.1%; sample: 59Apr 2026: 14.1%; sample: 71May 2026: 21.0%; sample: 62Jun 2026: 12.1%; sample: 58Pandemic regime Jun 2020Summer 2022 breakdown Jul 2022NATS system failure Aug 2023Heathrow fire closure Mar 2025100%0%
Every month since 2018, including gaps and suppressed cells
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 2023no data
May 2023no data
Jun 2023no data
Jul 2023no data
Aug 2023no data
Sep 2023no data
Oct 2023no data
Nov 2023no data
Dec 2023no data
Jan 202422.7% of 44 movements — small sample, not ranked
Feb 202414.3% of 42 movements — small sample, not ranked
Mar 2024no events in 45 movements — small sample, not ranked
Apr 202413.1% of 61 movements
May 202420.0% of 55 movements
Jun 202445.6% of 57 movements
Jul 202444.8% of 58 movements
Aug 202430.2% of 63 movements
Sep 202429.1% of 55 movements
Oct 202420.8% of 53 movements
Nov 202416.7% of 42 movements — small sample, not ranked
Dec 202419.0% of 58 movements
Jan 202516.7% of 54 movements
Feb 202517.5% of 40 movements — small sample, not ranked
Mar 20259.5% of 42 movements — small sample, not ranked
Apr 202511.7% of 60 movements
May 20257.8% of 64 movements
Jun 202517.7% of 62 movements
Jul 202535.6% of 73 movements
Aug 202533.8% of 80 movements
Sep 202531.9% of 69 movements
Oct 20254.3% of 69 movements
Nov 20258.6% of 58 movements
Dec 202521.9% of 64 movements
Jan 202623.0% of 61 movements
Feb 202612.0% of 50 movements
Mar 20265.1% of 59 movements
Apr 202614.1% of 71 movements
May 202621.0% of 62 movements
Jun 202612.1% of 58 movements

What did the big disruptions actually do here?

Each named event below is shown against this route’s own baseline for the twelve months before it, and against how long the route took to get back to that baseline.

A month worse than baseline is not proof the named event caused it: the open data carry no delay-cause field at all. Some events sit near the edge of the archive, which limits how long a recovery can be traced.

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 2023Arrivalsno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
NATS system failure · Aug 2023Departuresno datano complete baselinenot enough data: needs a complete baseline and a publishable event month
Heathrow fire closure · Mar 2025Arrivals9.5% of 42 movements — small sample, not ranked22.8% across 641 flightsreturned the next month
Heathrow fire closure · Mar 2025Departures9.3% of 43 movements — small sample, not ranked19.5% across 641 flightsreturned after 2 months
Definitions, denominators and limits

The baseline is the unweighted mean share over the twelve preceding calendar months. The return window is the following eight months, up to the end of the archive. Return means the first observed value at or below the baseline; it is not the duration of the disruption itself. If the event month is already below the baseline, counting still starts the month after. Gaps and suppressed cells are not treated as zeros or as recovery.

Which time of year has historically been hardest?

July has historically been the hardest month on this route: in a typical July, 40.2% of arrivals were disrupted, measured across 2 Julys in the archive. March has been the calmest, at 5.1% across 3 Marchs.

Even July has ranged from 35.6% to 44.8% in different years, so this is a record of what happened, not a forecast of what will. Lower is better throughout.

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 datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano datano data202422.7% of 44 movements †14.3% of 42 movements †no events in 45 movements †13.1% of 61 movements20.0% of 55 movements45.6% of 57 movements44.8% of 58 movements30.2% of 63 movements29.1% of 55 movements20.8% of 53 movements16.7% of 42 movements †19.0% of 58 movements202516.7% of 54 movements17.5% of 40 movements †9.5% of 42 movements †11.7% of 60 movements7.8% of 64 movements17.7% of 62 movements35.6% of 73 movements33.8% of 80 movements31.9% of 69 movements4.3% of 69 movements8.6% of 58 movements21.9% of 64 movements202623.0% of 61 movements12.0% of 50 movements5.1% of 59 movements14.1% of 71 movements21.0% of 62 movements12.1% of 58 movementsno datano datano datano datano datano data
Month-by-month table: median, observed range and sample
MonthMedianObserved rangeSample
Jan22.7%16.7–23.0%3 months, 159 flights
Feb14.3%12.0–17.5%3 months, 132 flights
Mar5.1%0.0–9.5%3 months, 146 flights
Apr13.1%11.7–14.1%3 months, 192 flights
May20.0%7.8–21.0%3 months, 181 flights
Jun17.7%12.1–45.6%3 months, 177 flights
Jul40.2%35.6–44.8%2 months, 131 flights
Aug32.0%30.2–33.8%2 months, 143 flights
Sep30.5%29.1–31.9%2 months, 124 flights
Oct12.6%4.3–20.8%2 months, 122 flights
Nov12.6%8.6–16.7%2 months, 100 flights
Dec20.4%19.0–21.9%2 months, 122 flights
Definitions, denominators and limits

The matrix shows the last eight calendar years, including an incomplete final year; the start of the archive is kept in the history above. Seasonal summaries use the whole available archive, excluding the pandemic regime 2020–2021; this is an observed range, not a forecast. Zero events, missing data and suppressed cells are marked separately. † marks a small sample, described but not ranked. For ranges the colour follows the upper bound.

Which airline has the better record here?

On the published record there is no clear winner: Wizz Air Uk 16.0% of 606 movements, Fly One 31.5% of 168 movements. Observed shares differ; the mix of operations is not matched, so no causal conclusion follows.

Figures cover arrivals, July 2025 to June 2026; lower is better in every column. Carriers with fewer than twenty published flights are suppressed rather than shown as zero. The page makes no ranking: the operations behind these shares are not matched for aircraft, time of day or season.

Observed disruption share by optionFly One31.5% of 168 flightsWizz Air Uk16.0% of 606 flights
Airline comparison table: operations, cancellations, three-hour delays and data quality
AirlineOperationsDisruptionCancellations>180 minData quality
Fly One16831.5% of 168 movementsno events in 168 movements1.8% of 168 movementsdescriptive comparison
Wizz Air Uk60616.0% of 606 movements0.8% of 606 movements0.8% of 606 movementsdescriptive comparison

The noise check is a descriptive approximation assuming independent operations. Delay correlation and mix differences are not estimated; no ranking is derived.

Would another UK airport have been better?

Among UK airports flying to this city with enough flights to publish, STN had the lowest disruption share at 39.6% of 265 movements and STN the highest at 39.6% of 265 movements. This route sits at 19.4% of 774 movements.

Each figure is arrivals into that UK airport, all carriers combined, over the same twelve months. It is a historical record, not a recommendation about where to fly from, and it says nothing about getting to or from each airport on the ground.

Observed disruption share by optionStn ↔ Chisinau-International39.6% of 265 flights
Airport comparison table: operations, cancellations, three-hour delays and data quality
Other UK airport to the same cityOperationsDisruptionCancellations>180 minData quality
Bhx ↔ Chisinau-Internationalsuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed
Lgw ↔ Chisinau-Internationalsuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed
Man ↔ Chisinau-Internationalsuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed: fewer than twenty movementssuppressed
Stn ↔ Chisinau-International26539.6% of 265 movementsno events in 265 movements2.6% of 265 movementsdescriptive comparison

Does the direction you are flying change anything?

Barely: arrivals into LTN ran 19.4% of 774 movements disrupted, departures 16.6% of 771 movements.

It matters legally as well as practically: a departure from the UK and an arrival into the UK on a UK or EU carrier fall under different conditions, and a departure delay does not establish a late arrival at your final destination.

Arrivals and departures side by side
DirectionDisruptionCancellationsOver three hours
Arrivals into LTN19.4% of 774 movements0.6% of 774 movements1.0% of 774 movements
Departures from LTN16.6% of 771 movements0.1% of 771 movements0.4% of 771 movements
Definitions, denominators and limits

CAA conditions on delays and cancellations.

How many flights here crossed the three-hour mark?

The table below counts arrivals and departures that ran more than three hours late — the threshold that is one of the conditions for compensation — across the whole archive and within the last six years.

The pound figure beside each count is arithmetic, not money anyone received: it is the count multiplied by the maximum statutory amount for this distance band. Whether any of those flights actually qualified is not knowable from this data.

DirectionWindowFlights over three hoursArithmetic statutory ceiling
ArrivalsWhole archive · Jan 2018–Jun 202619 flights out of 1,72919 × £350 = £6,650
ArrivalsLast 72 months · Jul 2020–Jun 202619 flights out of 1,72919 × £350 = £6,650
DeparturesWhole archive · Jan 2018–Jun 202614 flights out of 1,72614 × £350 = £4,900
DeparturesLast 72 months · Jul 2020–Jun 202614 flights out of 1,72614 × £350 = £4,900
Definitions, denominators and limits

Full formula: the count is the sum of the two tail buckets across months, carriers and service types in one direction; the ceiling is that count multiplied by the maximum statutory amount for the distance band. The condition is: if every such delay had been the carrier's fault and a claim had been filed on every one of them.

This is conditional arithmetic over operations: passenger numbers, legal applicability and the number of claims are all unknown. For departures it is an arithmetic scenario only, because arrival at the final point is not observed. For long routes the maximum ceiling is used; any reduction in the payable amount is not calculated.

The archive window is counted from the last month of data, not from today: this is not a limitation check for an individual case. The CAA states six years for England and Wales and five for Scotland. CAA: time limits and how to complain. Information, not a legal service.

The facts about this route

Route reference table: codes, distance, frequency, archive span
FieldValue
UK airportLUTON · LTN
Final point / countryCHISINAU INTERNATIONAL / REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Final point codesRMO / LUKK
Great-circle distance2,174 km
Maximum statutory amount for the band£350
Average operated arrivals per day2.11
Presence in the latest twelve-month windowoperations present in every month of the latest twelve-month window
First and last active monthJan 2024–Jun 2026
Months with operations in the archive30

origin_destination is the final point of the CAA service, not evidence of a nonstop connection. The distance joins the coordinates of the named airports; the actual track is unknown. Frequency describes published operations.

What this data cannot tell you

Delay cause is not published in the regulator's open data. Monthly aggregates describe a population, not a specific flight. Cells below twenty operations are suppressed; twenty to forty-nine are descriptive only and not ranked. Arrivals and departures do not add up. Cancellations are short-notice only, by the CAA definition. A movement is not the same as a scheduled flight.

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.

Data-quality counters for this route

Zero observed events does not mean zero risk. Operator coverage against the Summary file is not established in this record; comparisons are limited to the published population.

Unmatched records: 0; all recorded operations: 774; excluded by quarantine: 0.

Quick answers

How often is this route disrupted?

19.4% of 774 movements over July 2025 to June 2026. Arrivals into the UK airport; all published carriers.

How many flights are cancelled at short notice?

0.6% of 774 movements in the same window.

How many delays crossed three hours?

1.0% of 774 movements in the same window; these are observed movements, not a count of claims.

What does the delay distribution look like?

rare but severe. The class compares the tail with short delays across routes in the corpus.

What distance is used?

2,174 km, great-circle.

Can compensation entitlement be established here?

No. The cause and the circumstances of an individual flight are unknown. Official CAA conditions.

Why do some cells say "no data"?

That month is absent from the published series. Small cells carry a separate "suppressed" marker; a gap is never replaced by a zero.

How this was calculated

Dataset version, input hashes and reconstruction rules

Dataset version: 396da8dde2874f14; method route-record-v2.1.

Versioned register of every number and the entity map · Input hashes · Correction log · Reconstruction and formulas.

Reconstruction: integer counts inside the rounding bounds of shares of D, summing to M. Ambiguity is preserved as a range of feasible counts; non-convergence stays in quarantine. The map of codes and coordinates is pinned by hash alongside the data. Raw CSV files are not included in the published output.

Your trip has already gone wrong — what now?

The official route to complain

Contact the airline first, then the relevant ADR body or the CAA. The right to care is assessed separately from compensation; time limits and circumstances are checked case by case. CAA: how to complain.

Reconstruction and formulas

Open the versioned claim register

Was your flight delayed 3h+? Check what you may be owed

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