These are the worst airports in the UK for flight delays

Whether travelling for business or leisure, nobody likes having their journey time extended. Now a new investigation has revealed the UK’s worst airports for flight delays.

Flight delays

Stansted airport, which is the fourth busiest in the UK, was revealed as the worst for flight delays last year, with an average delay of 25 minutes, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

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This data includes scheduled and chartered flights from 24 major UK airports, but cancelled flights were not included.

Luton and Birmingham airport followed close behind Stansted, both having an average delay time of 19 minutes each.

Belfast City (George Best) was at the other end of the data table, with just an eight minute average delay time, with the average flight delay in 2018 for all included airports being 16 minutes.

Stansted airport, which is the fourth busiest in the UK, was revealed as the worst for flight delays last year (Photo: Shutterstock)

The full list

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Stansted - 25 minutesLuton - 19 minutesBirmingham - 19 minutesGatwick - 18 minutesManchester - 16 minutesJersey - 16 minutesSouthend - 15 minutesGlasgow - 15 minutesEdinburgh - 15 minutesBelfast International - 15 minutesSouthampton - 14 minutesNewcastle - 14 minutesDurham Tees Valley - 14 minutesCardiff - 14 minutesLeeds Bradford - 13 minutesIsle of Man - 13 minutesHeathrow - 13 minutesEast Midlands - 13 minutesAberdeen - 13 minutesExeter - 12 minutesDoncaster Sheffield - 12 minutesBournemouth - 12 minutesLiverpool (John Lennon) - 10 minutesBelfast City (George Best) - 8 minutes

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said, "It's completely unacceptable for passengers to be regularly delayed by nearly half an hour.

"These delays aren't just an inconvenience but can leave holidaymakers hundreds of pounds out of pocket because of missed connections, transfers and fines for picking up their hire car late.

"Airlines should stop passing the buck and make it easier for their passengers by finally introducing automatic compensation."