UK: Hold-ups rose by 30 per cent, with Heathrow showing the way
New figures have shown that travellers heading in and out of the UK face the worst delays in the whole of Europe.
Figures by Eurocontrol, which supervises airport movement between 24 countries, show that delays rose by nearly 30 per cent last year; in 2001 some 210,000 flights were delayed, last year the figure was 274,000.
While problems worsened at most airports around the country, Heathrow suffered “by far the largest rise” in delays. Specific problems such as restricted runway capacity affected the west London hub, while ongoing problems at the new air traffic control centre in Swanwick caused delays on a nationwide basis.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Britain’s “share” of European delays rose from 14 per cent to 37 per cent – and of the 10 region-to-region traffic flows that suffered the worst delays, all started or ended in the UK.
