British Airports Ranked Worst to Best for Punctuality 2026: Here are the average flight delays for the 23 biggest airports in Britain - including three in Scotland

A new study has discovered which British airports are worst when it comes to flight punctuality - and the airports where travellers face the shortest delays.

The analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the Press Association found that flights were delayed by an average of 14 minutes and 54 seconds, in 2025 - down from 18 minutes and 24 seconds in 2024.

Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said the choice of airport “shouldn’t make or break your trip” but “too many holidays got off to a terrible start last year”.

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He went on: “Manchester Airport has ranked last in our airport survey for four consecutive years and these new CAA figures validate why this is a particularly poor place to be stranded during delays.

“For passengers already wary of travel uncertainty, seeing such consistent underperformance makes it difficult to book with any real confidence.”

The analysis took into account scheduled and chartered departures from the 23 commercial UK airports with at least 1,000 outbound flights last year, including three airports in Scotland, with cancellations not included.

Here’s how all 23 airports performed, starting with the worst.

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