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Summer charter delays get worse
Almost 11% of charter flights from UK airports were at least an hour late last summer.
Figures from the Air Transport Users Council show that 10.9% of charter flights were over an hour late in the April-October period, against 9.3% in summer 2004 and 7.8% the previous summer.
The statistics, based on departures from nine UK airports, revealed that First Choice fared best out of the big six UK charter carriers with nearly 6% while Excel Airways had the worst performance with 14% of flights at least an hour late, the BBC reported.
The best performing airline was Spain’s Volar Airlines with 5.5% of flights more than an hour late, followed by First Choice and Thomsonfly at 6.4%.
Half of the delays were attributed to air traffic control problems, the BBC reported.
Additionally, the number of flights cancelled was the highest in three years.
AUC chairman Tina Tietjen said that last year the council had hoped new EU compensation rules for delayed flights would lead to an improvement in punctuality.
But she said: “We are disappointed to report that this has not happened and summer 2005 again saw an overall deterioration in charter airline performance year-on-year.
“We appreciate that delays can be caused by a number of external factors but a significant proportion of delays are within the control of airlines.”
“We look to airlines to follow the example set by MyTravel Airways which has improved its punctuality performance significantly over the last year, and bounce back with improved punctuality.”
Charter airline delays (% more than 1hr late) – summer 2005:
Volar Airlines – 5.5%
First Choice Airways – 5.7%
Thomsonfly – 6.4%
Iberworld – 7.7%
Pegasus Airlines – 8.0
Air Europa – 8.4%
MyTravel Airways – 8.5%
Freebird – 8.5%
Finnair – 10.3%
Air Malta – 11.1%
Thomas Cook Airlines – 11.9%
Monarch Airlines – 12.8%
BH Air – 13.4%
BA Connect – 14%
Excel Airways – 14.2%
BMI charter operations – 14.3%
Futura Airlines – 15.1%
Astaeus – 61.1%
Eurocypria – 17.5%
Spanair – 20.9
Onur Air – 21.8%
Viking Airlines – 26.7%
European Air Charter – 29.8%
Flyjet – 30.4%
Air Atlanta Europe – 34.5%
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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