According to information that has sparked new worries about government intentions to reduce customer compensation programmes, the budget carrier Wizz Air had the poorest performance for UK flight delays among its peers last year.
In 2021, months before the most recent travel chaos began, it was discovered that the Hungarian carrier, which operates short-haul flights from ten UK airports, including Belfast International, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gatwick, and Luton, had flights running an average of 14 minutes and 24 seconds behind schedule.
Following British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Loganair as the least punctual airlines on UK-departing flights, according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority analyzed by the PA Media, comes Tui Airways.
EasyJet and Ryanair, two of the most frequently booked airlines in the UK, were found to be the most punctual of their contemporaries. The only airline that did better was Aer Lingus, the national carrier of Ireland, with an average delay of three minutes and 12 seconds.
Due to travel limitations that decreased the frequency of flights, flight on-time performance in 2021 was generally better than it had been prior to the Covid epidemic. The problem has worsened this year, meanwhile, as a result of staff shortages that make it difficult for airports and airlines to keep up with a pickup in travel after Covid restrictions were eased. Tens of thousands of flights have been canceled as a result of the recruitment issues.
Consumer rights advocates are calling for a U-turn on government plans to overhaul passenger compensation packages for UK flights.
“While these findings are worrying, the reality has actually been far worse for many travellers this summer,” said Guy Hobbs, the editor of the consumer magazine Which? Travel. “Holidaymakers have faced a barrage of disruption over the last few months, and these latest figures only serve to underline the need for urgent reform of the travel industry.
“The government must drop plans to slash passenger compensation for delayed and cancelled domestic flights,” Hobbs said.
As part of its post-Brexit changes, the Department for Transport (DfT) stated in January that it was thinking about revising the laws governing air passengers’ rights for flights within the UK.
Currently, unless the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances like terrible weather, passengers on an internal trip from Edinburgh to London are eligible to claim £220 once their aircraft has been delayed by three hours.
The amount of compensation due is set and unrelated to the passenger’s fare. The proposed adjustments, however, would relate the sum to the cost, meaning that after a 90-minute delay, a traveller who had paid £50 for a domestic flight would receive £12.50 back.
Without commenting on the compensation scheme overhaul, the Department for Transport said it was up to the travel sector to make sure passengers “could get away on their well-deserved summer holidays”.