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Edinburgh Airport (EDI): flight delays and compensation

Edinburgh Airport. A UK airport: flights departing from here are covered by UK261, and flights to Edinburgh from the EU by EU261 – under the same conditions. Here is what to expect if your flight was delayed or cancelled here, or you were stranded.

By the EU261 Flight Delay editorial team Last reviewed: Reading time: 6 min How we write our guides

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In short: Any flight departing from Edinburgh Airport is covered by UK261 (£220/£350/£520); flights to Edinburgh from an EU airport are covered by EU261 – the conditions are the same. If the airline turns your claim down, you can escalate to its ADR scheme or to the CAA, and then to the small claims court.

Live at Edinburgh (EDI) today

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About the airport

Edinburgh handled 117,237 commercial flights in 2025 according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the 5th-highest number among the 25 UK airports the CAA reports on. The busiest airlines here were easyJet, Ryanair, British Airways; the busiest destinations London, Dublin, Amsterdam.

Every flight departing from Edinburgh is covered by UK261, whatever the airline. Flights arriving here are covered by EU261 if they depart from an EU airport, and by UK261 if a UK or EU airline operates them from elsewhere.

How punctual is Edinburgh? (2025)

Flights operated
117,237

2025, at UK airports

On time (≤ 15 min late)
71.4%

close to the UK average (72.7%)

3 hours or more late
0.44%

1 in 227 flights · better than the UK average

Cancelled
1.08%

1,281 flights · close to the UK average

Average delay
15.3 min

UK average 15.1 min

Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics 2025 – departures and arrivals combined, measured against the schedule at the UK airport. How we use this data

Airlines at Edinburgh

AirlineFlightsOn time3 h+ lateCancelledAvg delay
easyJet30,21872.7%0.43%0.89%15 min
Ryanair29,11266.3%0.42%0.40%18 min
British Airways12,30678.3%0.21%1.51%11 min
Loganair7,41675.5%0.49%1.83%14 min
Jet27,08769.6%0.54%0.21%18 min
Aer Lingus6,51570.6%0.45%2.95%16 min
KLM3,14170.5%0.09%1.69%14 min
Lufthansa2,37466.6%0.13%1.12%15 min
Air France1,87468.9%0.37%1.06%15 min
United Airlines1,81464.5%2.16%2.26%26 min
Norwegian1,79779.8%0.17%0.50%10 min
Qatar Airways1,45683.5%0.41%0.61%9 min
Delta Air Lines1,32773.8%1.57%0.90%19 min
Turkish Airlines1,18777.5%0.33%1.66%10 min
Eurowings1,13564.1%0.35%0.96%19 min

Top destinations from Edinburgh – and what a delay is worth

The 30 busiest destinations in 2025, with the compensation for a 3-hour-plus delay or a late cancellation: UK261 (£) on the way out, and on the way back EU261 (€) from EU airports or UK261 with a UK/EU airline.

DestinationFlights3 h+ lateCancelledDistanceFrom EDIReturn
London7,7230.17%1.53%534 km£220£220
Dublin7,4830.33%1.55%337 km£220€250
Amsterdam4,8030.18%1.76%666 km£220€250
London4,3500.53%0.46%510 km£220£220
London4,1260.14%1.53%543 km£220£220
Belfast3,8060.52%0.68%230 km£220£220
Paris3,6340.33%1.41%869 km£220€250
London2,8870.21%0.48%573 km£220£220
Bristol2,8740.34%0.90%510 km£220£220
Southampton2,3090.17%1.20%572 km£220£220
Belfast2,1540.85%4.10%217 km£220£220
Birmingham2,1100.24%0.80%403 km£220£220
London2,0820.48%0.57%494 km£220£220
Tenerife2,0450.34%0.39%3,276 km£350€400
Frankfurt1,8410.11%1.39%1,032 km£220€250
Copenhagen1,7400.68%0.63%1,001 km£220€250
Barcelona1,5320.39%0.07%1,677 km£350€400
Geneva1,5320.39%1.03%1,264 km£220€250
Doha1,4560.41%0.61%5,547 km£520UK/EU airline only
Palma de Mallorca1,4530.82%0.55%1,878 km£350€400
Alicante1,4100.42%0.14%1,976 km£350€400
Madrid1,3730.15%0.07%1,718 km£350€400
Lanzarote1,3110.30%0.61%3,110 km£350€400
Kirkwall1,2350.47%2.29%–––
Berlin1,2140.32%1.46%1,165 km£220€250
Istanbul1,1870.33%1.66%2,830 km£350UK/EU airline only
Sumburgh1,1640.08%3.48%–––
Málaga1,0620.66%0.47%2,145 km£350€400
Kraków1,0340.77%0.58%1,671 km£350€400
Antalya9710.51%0.31%3,312 km£350UK/EU airline only

All routes from Edinburgh: route list · UK delay statistics

Air traffic flow delays at Edinburgh (2025)

EUROCONTROL records the delay imposed on arriving flights when the airport or the airspace around it cannot take more traffic (air traffic flow management, “ATFM”). In 2025, 62,348 flights arrived at EDI; 2,099 of them were held back this way, 842 by more than 15 minutes – an average of 0.58 minutes per arrival.

What caused the ATFM delay

  • equipment (ATC)53%
  • ATC staffing31%
  • weather9%
  • aerodrome capacity5%
  • accident/incident2%
  • other0%

Average ATFM delay per arrival by month (min)

  1. J
  2. F
  3. M
  4. A
  5. M
  6. J
  7. J
  8. A
  9. S
  10. O
  11. N
  12. D

Worst days: 14 November 2025 – 2,640 minutes, mostly equipment (ATC); 17 November 2025 – 2,556 minutes, mostly equipment (ATC); 20 November 2025 – 2,146 minutes, mostly equipment (ATC).

2026 so far (to 30 September 2026): 48,767 arrivals, 0.03 minutes of ATFM delay per arrival (better than 2025), mainly weather (60%) and ATC staffing (36%).

Check what happened at EDI on your travel day →

What this means for a claim: ATFM delays come from weather (9% here), air traffic control capacity and staffing (84%) or airport limits – causes airlines often cite as extraordinary circumstances. They are only part of the story: most long delays come from the airline’s own operation (technical faults, crew, late inbound aircraft), which this data does not show. Source: EUROCONTROL.

Delays at Edinburgh in numbers

  • In 2025, 71.4% of flights at Edinburgh were on time or less than 15 minutes late (UK average 72.7%).
  • 0.44% of flights – about 1 in 227 – were 3 hours or more late, the threshold for compensation if the airline was responsible.
  • 1.08% of planned flights were cancelled (1,281 flights; UK average 1.04%).
  • The average delay was 15.3 minutes (UK average 15.1 minutes).

Airlines you are likely to fly with here

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What happened?Step 1 of 4

What happened to your flight?
Where did you fly from and to?

With a connection, enter your first departure and your final destination – compensation is based on the total distance.

How late did you arrive at your final destination?

What counts is when the aircraft doors opened at your destination – not the departure delay.

When were you told about the cancellation?
When did you arrive on the replacement flight?
Which airline operated the flight?
When was the flight?

How many passengers were on the booking?

1 passenger

Every passenger gets their own compensation, children too. Infants under 2 without their own seat do not count.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Fee only if successful (35%)
  • AirHelp: Trustpilot 4.5/5

Rather skip the questions? Start a claim with AirHelp straight away

Local information

  • Complaints about UK261 go first to the airline; if it is a member of an alternative dispute resolution scheme (AviationADR or CEDR), you can escalate there after 8 weeks or a final response – otherwise to the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team. See our how-to-claim guide.
  • Time limits in the UK: 6 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 5 years in Scotland.
  • Keep your boarding pass, booking confirmation and receipts for meals, transport or a hotel – you can claim reasonable costs back if the airline did not provide care.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim compensation for a flight departing from Edinburgh Airport?

Yes. Since Brexit the United Kingdom applies its own rule with the same content (UK261): any flight departing from Edinburgh Airport can give £220, £350 or £520 depending on distance, under the same conditions as EU261.

Can I claim compensation for a flight arriving at Edinburgh Airport?

If the flight departed from an EU airport: yes, under EU261, with any airline. If it departed from outside the EU and the UK: only if a UK or EU airline operated it.

How is the length of the delay measured?

By your arrival time at your final destination – more precisely, the moment the aircraft door opens at the gate. It must be at least 3 hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Related guides

Information only, not legal advice. Passenger figures are approximate and based on the airports' published statistics; punctuality figures are from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. We earn a commission when a claim submitted through our partner links is successful.

Sources

  1. Eurostat – air passenger transport routes between partner airports and main airports (2024) – Eurostat
  2. EUROCONTROL – airport arrival ATFM delays (open performance data) – EUROCONTROL
  3. UK flight punctuality statistics 2025 – UK Civil Aviation Authority
  4. Delays and cancellations – your rights – UK Civil Aviation Authority

We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.