With the arrival of the summer holiday season, European airports have been overwhelmed by the demand of travelers eager to resume tourism after the pandemic. This, added to the staff shortage, has led to endless security queues, and flight delays and cancellations at numerous airports in Europe.
According to the online travel agency Hopper, andBrussels airport tops the list of worst destinations for these summer holidays, with 72% of flights delayed so far in July. The figure contrasts with Bergamo airport, which is positioned as the most punctual airport, with only 3% delays in this same period.
Taking only cancellations into account, Frankfurt airport is the European airport with the highest percentage, with 7.8% of canceled flights, well above the rest. In second place would be the airport of Schipol (Amsterdam) with 5.2%.
Four Spanish airports have crept into the list of the 10 best: Gran Canaria, with 8% delays and only 0.3% cancellations; Madrid-Barajas, with 19% delays and 0.4% cancellations; and Malaga, with 24% delays and 3.3% cancellations. Alicante registers 20% delays and 3.4% cancellations. This destination is tied for punctuality with Marseille, but the French airfield registers only 2% cancellations.
There is no Spanish airport among the worst, but Lisbon is, with 65% of flights delayed in July (4.8% cancellations), a lack of punctuality equal to that of Budapest.
For its part, London’s Heathrow airport is not even among the 10 worst airports in Europe, as are two other London aerodromes: Gatwick and Luton (59% and 66% delays, respectively). Keep in mind, however, that Heathrow, which has a 51% delay rate, has much higher than average traffic, and Hopper’s ranking is based on the percentage of delays, not the number of people affected. This classification is, in fact, focused on the probability of delays occurring.
Likewise, the figures are averages for the first nine days of July; on its worst travel days, delays at Heathrow reached 62% of flights, which would have placed it on the list of the 10 worst airports, with thousands of travelers affected.
Hopper data is collected through Official Aviation Guide, a leading provider of digital flight information and analytics to airports, airlines and travel technology companies, whose goal is to keep customers informed about disruptions to their booked routes. The figures, which reflect a lag of three days, are more up-to-date than any other public data source.
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