The five worst countries for flight delays in Europe included Germany, the UK, France, Spain and Italy - with record disruption across the continent
Germany, Britain and France are the worst countries for flight delays and cancellations in Europe as disruption hits record levels, new analysis has revealed.
More than 180,000 – or 29% – of Germany’s 630,000 flights between 1 January and 22 September this year were disrupted, while one in four UK air passengers faced delays of at least 15 minutes or cancellations – affecting 175,000 journeys.
This is already 26,000 more UK flights than those affected throughout the whole of last year, while cancellations have increased 86% from the same nine-month period in 2017.
In France, 120,000 (28%) of flights did not depart on time or at all, with Spanish, Italian and Dutch passengers also frustrated.
Although seventh in flight compensation company AirHelp’s table for disruptions with just under 50,000 affected flights, Portugal scored worst in terms of percentage at 34%.
Of the 28 countries it surveyed in the European Union and Switzerland, Slovakia (1,000 flights and 19%), Slovenia (3,600 and 34%) and Lithuania (2,100 and 14%) had the best results.
2018 is record year for worst countries for flight delays
Paloma Salmeron, air passenger rights expert at AirHelp, said: “2018 has seen the worst flight disruption across Europe in history.
“Millions of travellers have suffered severe delays or cancellations by airlines, but nowhere more so than in Germany and the UK.
“Airline staff strikes, lack of pilots and bad weather have all contributed to a year of air travel misery and chaos for passengers.
“And the situation is only set to get worse. The current Brexit aviation deal limbo combined with a predicted increase in European flights to 12.4 million by 2024 is likely to cause even more havoc in European airspace.
“Whichever way the law turns in the UK and EU negotiations, we urge airlines to work tirelessly to help their passengers throughout the flight disruption.
“We urge passengers affected by flight delays or cancellations to check whether they are entitled to financial compensation.”
List of worst countries for flight delays in the EU and Switzerland
Ranking | Country | Total flights | Number of delayed flights* | Number of cancelled flights | Percentage of disrupted flights** |
1 | Germany | 630,000 | 167,420 | 14,040 | 28.80 |
2 | United Kingdom | 692,800 | 164,690 | 10,640 | 25.31 |
3 | France | 429,900 | 107,120 | 13,930 | 28.16 |
4 | Spain | 592,400 | 127,190 | 5,980 | 22.48 |
5 | Italy | 420,200 | 96,940 | 5,100 | 24.28 |
6 | Netherlands | 180,500 | 40,020 | 2,480 | 23.55 |
7 | Portugal | 143,400 | 46,810 | 1,980 | 34.02 |
8 | Switzerland | 160,500 | 40,650 | 2,940 | 27.16 |
9 | Denmark | 102,200 | 22,090 | 1,230 | 22.82 |
10 | Sweden | 142,100 | 32,320 | 2,950 | 24.82 |
11 | Austria | 96,600 | 23,130 | 1,710 | 25.71 |
12 | Poland | 112,500 | 26,810 | 1,730 | 25.37 |
13 | Greece | 124,400 | 29,140 | 660 | 23.95 |
14 | Belgium | 74,600 | 20,680 | 800 | 28.79 |
15 | Ireland | 77,400 | 15,480 | 1,370 | 21.77 |
16 | Finland | 81,700 | 17,080 | 690 | 21.75 |
17 | Hungary | 32,800 | 8,310 | 320 | 26.31 |
18 | Romania | 54,200 | 11,430 | 300 | 21.64 |
19 | Croatia | 34,300 | 9,720 | 360 | 29.39 |
20 | Luxemburg | 16,900 | 2,670 | 320 | 17.69 |
21 | Bulgaria | 24,100 | 4,580 | 170 | 19.71 |
22 | Cyprus | 26,500 | 5,790 | 100 | 22.23 |
23 | Estonia | 12,900 | 2,640 | 260 | 22.48 |
24 | Latvia | 22,200 | 2,620 | 110 | 12.30 |
25 | Malta | 14,400 | 3,460 | 40 | 24.31 |
26 | Lithuania | 15,300 | 1,940 | 170 | 13.79 |
27 | Slovenia | 7.900 | 2,560 | 100 | 33.67 |
28 | Slovakia | 5.200 | 960 | 50 | 19.42 |