You’ve done everything you possibly can to ensure your trip goes smoothly – booked your train to arrive at the airport hours ahead of boarding, put all your documents in separate pouch, arranged pick-up on the other side. Then, at the final hurdle, you hear that your flight has been delayed and all of your meticulous planning feels pointless.
While you can never fully anticipate whether your flight will be on time or not, you can, based on an airport’s track record, figure out when it’ll be more likely. For the fourth year in a row, Manchester Airport has been identified as the UK’s worst airport for flight delays.
Analysis of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by the Press Association (PA) shows that in 2025, flights travelling out of Manchester airport were, on average, 19 and a half minutes behind schedule. It’s not ideal for those who rely on Manchester Airport to go abroad, but the silver lining is that that’s actually a 30-second improvement on the previous year.
A spokesperson for the airport responded by saying that many of the things that cause flight delays are ‘outside of an airport’s control’. They commented: ‘The two most significant factors contributing to delays in the last year have been industrial action affecting air traffic control in Europe and the weather.
‘These were exacerbated by airspace restrictions above conflict zones, meaning airports with significant long-haul networks, like Manchester, were more significantly affected than others.
‘As an industry, we are working collectively to achieve the best possible on-time departure rates while protecting flight schedules and avoiding the need for cancellations.’
The average delay across all the airports that were analysed was 14 minutes and 54 seconds (down from 18 minutes and 24 seconds in 2024).
PA’s analysis found that Birmingham was the second worst hub for delays last year with flights leaving an average of 18 minutes at 42 seconds later than planned. The third worst was Bournemouth with an average delay time of 17 minutes and 18 seconds.
Every major UK airports ranked by average flight delay time
- Manchester – 19 minutes, 30 seconds
- Birmingham – 18 minutes, 42 seconds
- Bournemouth – 17 minutes, 18 seconds
- Southampton – 16 minutes, 36 seconds
- Gatwick – 16 minutes, 24 seconds
- Newcastle – 15 minutes, 48 seconds
- Leeds Bradford – 15 minutes, 36 seconds
- Stansted – 15 minutes, 36 seconds
- Edinburgh – 15 minutes, 24 seconds
- Teesside – 15 minutes, 6 seconds
- Cardiff – 14 minutes, 54 seconds
- Exeter – 14 minutes, 54 seconds
- Bristol – 14 minutes, 36 seconds
- London City – 14 minutes, 12 seconds
- Luton – 14 minutes, 12 seconds
- Heathrow – 12 minutes, 42 seconds
- Belfast International – 12 minutes, 24 seconds
- Glasgow – 12 minutes, 6 seconds
- Belfast City – 12 minutes, 6 seconds
- East Midlands – 11 minutes, 48 seconds
- Aberdeen – 10 minutes, 54 seconds
- Southend – 10 minutes, 24 seconds
- Liverpool John Lennon – nine minutes, 24 seconds
Did you see that this popular British regional airport will close for good this summer?
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.
