Heathrow worst for delays again
02.07.08
Heathrow has been ranked Europe's worst airport for delays again, as its performance continues to deteriorate, new figures show. According to the latest statistics published by the Association of European Airlines, nearly half of flights left or arrived at Heathrow at least 15 minutes late during the first three months of this year. Not only was Heathrow rated as the worst of the 27 airports in the survey, but this was the 16th quarter in succession that it was rated among the bottom 5 performers.
Heathrow's performance in the quarter saw the average departure delay increase from 35 minutes in the final quarter of last year to 39.5 minutes in the first three months of 2008. Those arriving at the airport faced an average delay of 46.6 minutes
44.1 % of planes left at least 15 minutes late and 45.1% arrived more than quarter of an hour behind schedule. In the previous quarter 39.2% of flights left and 36.3% arrived at least 15 minutes late.
Heathrow suffered particularly badly with air traffic control delays, which were responsible for 15.3% of flights arriving late. Loading and handling at Heathrow was also particularly bad; cited as the key factor in 11.1% of planes' delayed departure.
A Heathrow spokesman said that the cure to the airport's problems is a third runway. She said: ‘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.’
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