'Heathrow is the worst performing airport in Europe,' claims report

By Nick Mcdermott
Last updated at 7:52 PM on 01st July 2008

Almost half of flights to and from Heathrow are delayed by 15 minutes or more making it the worst performing airport in Europe, new figures reveal.

Performance data for Britain's flagship airport show the average delay for departures has now increased from 35 minutes from the end of last year to 39.5 minutes for the first quarter of 2008.

According to the latest report from the Association of European Airlines, Heathrow was the worst airport for delays out of 27 surveyed, with 44.1 per cent of outbound continental flights at least 15 minutes late, and 45.1 inbound flight held-up.

Delays at Heathrow leave travellers hanging around for at least an extra 15 minutes

In contrast, passengers flying from Munich airport were least affected by delays, with only 17.6 per cent of departures held-up.

For those arriving at the west London airport, delays were even worse, with an average wait of 46.6 minutes.

According to the data, 15.3 per cent of outgoing flights delays were caused by problems with airport and air traffic control, while a further 11.1 per cent was blamed on loading and handling issues.

Cancellations and delays have become so commonplace at British airports that a Dutch company, EUclaim, has set up a UK office in a bid to help passengers claim compensation for their trouble.

The company says that more than 1,000 British passengers are entitled to up to £474 compensation each day, which totals £115m a year.

The damning new figures just months after the airport's reputation took a severe battering following the chaotic opening on the much-heralded £4.3 billion Terminal 5.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled, thousands of bags went missing and hundreds of thousands of passengers faced delays. BA later postponed plans to move almost all its longhaul Heathrow flights to T5 on April 30.

In May, British Airways boss Willie Walsh admitted the opening of T5 had been 'a disaster'. And he said the airport had been 'a national embarrassment for years'.

The latest figures will add further pressure on the Government to end BAA's much-criticised monopoly on London's major airports.

A Heathrow spokesman: 'Heathrow's two runways are operating at capacity, which means small events such as adverse weather, can cause major delays and disruption. Other airports, which have plenty of spare runway capacity, do not suffer these problems.

'These figures are the latest evidence of the problems caused by a lack of capacity at Heathrow.'

Print this article

Read later

Email to a friend

Share this article:

Add your comments View all

Comments (11)

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below?

Heathrow is a disgrace. Nothing more to say!

- FTF, Newcastle, 02/7/2008 07:56

The BAA have created this congestion by allowing too many slots. This then puts pressure on the perceived need for a third runway.

Flights should be capped at Heathrow, then aircraft will fly to capacity more often and pollution will be reduced. There is plenty of runway capacity at Schipol and Charles de Gaulle. Let the airlines go and pollute their skies.

- Edna Burbridge, Engreve, France, 02/7/2008 07:49

As a regular flier I know all about the problems at Heathrow, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. To me the focus seems to be on making money, rather than attending to customer service needs. Shops and restaurants everywhere charging stupid prices. There are problems with queues at immigration/security checks both on departure and arrival. Often on arrival back at Heathrow there are hundreds of people and only a limited number of immigration booths open. Having cleared that hurdle you are generally faced with a long wait to collect your luggage. Often it takes ages before the number of your baggage reclaim area comes up. I have spent over 2 hours between the flight landing and clearing the airport on more than one occasion. A flagship airport. Do not make me laugh. Go to Holland or some of the airports in the Far East to see how it should be done.

- Brian Tomlin, Morpeth, England, 02/7/2008 07:41

**yourComments**

- **name**, **townAndCountry**, **creationDate**

View all