Shorter delays for UK charter flights
The summer 2011 charter airline season produced shorter delays than those seen during summer 2010, with the average charter flight held up around 30% less time in a season-on-season comparison.
The average charter flight operated just over 20 minutes behind schedule during the summer 2011 season, among the better overall charter punctuality averages seen during the last decade, and a significant improvement since delays peaked at an average of 31 minutes in summer 2008.
On-time performance was 74% on average, nine percentage points better than in summer 2010 and only 8% of flights were delayed by over an hour, compared with 12% the previous summer.
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Charter flight delays at UK airports during the summer 2011 season were among the lowest recorded over the last decade.
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September and October 2011 were the 'pinch points' of the summer 2011 season with the longest delays recorded, while April saw the best overall timekeeping.
It's certainly a positive result both compared with summer 2010 and also relative to the average performance of recent years, and all three of the major charter airlines achieved significant improvements. Let's see if they can keep it up in summer 2012.
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Thomson Airways maintained first position for punctuality during the season for the fourth consecutive year, with an average delay of around 17 minutes and on-time performance of 77% achieved.
Thomson Airways was also the most punctual charter carrier at all but two of the eight UK reporting airports analysed during summer 2011, being relegated into second place only at Birmingham Airport, where the accolade went to Monarch Airlines for the second year, and at Edinburgh where the airline suffered long delays and lost out to Thomas Cook.
Overall only 1 in 15 Thomson charter flights was delayed by over an hour during the season, compared with 1 in 10 for the airline during summer 2010, while extensive delays of three hours or more only affected 1 in 60 Thomson charter flights.
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Thomas Cook Airlines followed as runner-up for the season, also recording the best improvement in average delay of the three analysed charter airlines, dropping by 43% from 35 minutes to less than 20 minutes overall. On-time performance for Thomas Cook flights was close to the level demonstrated by Thomson at nearly 76%, though a larger proportion of longer delays adversely affected the average delay for the airline.
Monarch Airlines finished the season in third position, though also improved their timekeeping significantly compared with summer 2010, the average delay reducing by over 25% to 22 minutes. On-time performance for Monarch charter flights was 70.5%, some five percentage points lower than for second-place Thomas Cook, though in terms of the proportion of flights delayed by over an hour the airline achieved the second best performance at 8.1%.
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The following table shows punctuality and average delay data for charter airlines operating at UK reporting airports during the summer 2011 season over the period 1st April 2011 to 31st October 2011 inclusive.
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| Users should take note of our Data Methodology, which details the method by which the data is both gathered and analysed.
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| S11 Rank
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Airline
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Average Delay
(mins)
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OTP *
(%)
| 1 hour+ late
(%)
| 3 hours+ late
(%)
| Total Flights
analysed
| Change in Average Delay YoY
(%)
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Apr-Oct
2011
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Apr-Oct
2010
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Apr-Oct
2011
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Apr-Oct
2010
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Apr-Oct
2011
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Apr-Oct
2010
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Apr-Oct
2011
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Apr-Oct
2010
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Apr-Oct
2011
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Apr-Oct
2010
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| 1
|
|
17.33
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22.36
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77.05
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70.58
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6.87
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9.30
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1.65
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1.97
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28,401
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27,226
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-22.49%
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| 2
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19.75
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34.92
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75.56
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62.35
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8.81
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16.48
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1.90
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4.24
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21,215
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21,038
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-43.43%
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| 3
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21.97
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29.40
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70.54
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66.19
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8.11
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12.03
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1.97
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3.30
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3,602
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5,968
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-25.29%
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| Average (Above 3 Airlines)
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18.61
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29.03
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76.02
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65.96
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7.73
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12.85
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1.77
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3.15
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53,218
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56,618
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-33.55%
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| Average (All Charter Flights)
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20.22
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28.52
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74.28
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65.19
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8.28
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12.43
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1.94
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2.96
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60,167
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63,785
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-29.12%
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© Copyright www.flightontime.info - analysis of CAA Economic Regulation Group Data
Table Notes
* OTP = On-Time Performance, percentage of flights operating early, on-time or up to 15 minutes late
All charter flight movements (arrivals and departures) were analysed at all 10 UK Reporting Airports** for each airline except where a small number of flights were operated which were excluded from the analysis, as follows (exclusions apply to 2011 season):
Thomas Cook Airlines: London Luton (11)
Monarch Airlines: London Stansted (2); Edinburgh (5); Glasgow (6)
** - 10 UK Reporting Airports: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, Manchester, London Stansted, Newcastle
The menus on the right link to pages showing more detailed punctuality statistics for the summer 2011 season for charter flights at UK reporting airports. Airline data, for example, is available down to reporting airport level.
You can view specific data for several UK charter airlines, or view charter airline delays at airport level, by selecting a page from the appropriate menu to the right.
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