More flights on time, says CAA

More flights to and from the UK were on time in the third quarter of 2003 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Civil Aviation Authority statistics. The figures, released yesterday, show that the punctuality of both scheduled and charter airlines has improved significantly. The number of scheduled flights departing on time (up to 15 minutes late) increased from 67% to 76%, while the number of charter flights departing on time increased from 67% to 75%. For scheduled departures the biggest improvements were seen at Gatwick and Stansted. During the third quarter of 2002 both airports had just 57% of flights leaving on time. For the same period a year later the figures improved to 78% at Gatwick and 77% at Stansted. Overall Manchester Airport topped the table with 82% of scheduled and 75% of chartered flights arriving and departing on time. Among the top 75 scheduled and charter destinations, the scheduled routes to Lisbon, Milan (Malpensa), Toronto, and Rome (Fiumicino) all had on-time performances below 65%. These four destinations, together with Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, and New York, had average delays of 19 minutes or over. However the effect of tough new security measures at US airports has still to feed through to the CAA’s statistics. A spokesman told TravelMole that it was “very difficult to say” whether the new measures would lead to significant delays. He said: We couldn’t speculate on that – we will have to wait and see.”