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Manchester Airport (MAN): flight delays and compensation

Manchester Airport – annual passengers: 30+ million (2024). A UK airport: flights departing from here are covered by UK261, and flights to Manchester 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 Manchester Airport is covered by UK261 (£220/£350/£520); flights to Manchester from an EU airport are covered by EU261 – the conditions are the same. UK261 applies to every departure. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the enforcement body; many UK airlines belong to a CAA-approved ADR scheme (AviationADR or CEDR). Time limit: 6 years in England and Wales, 5 years in Scotland.

Live at Manchester (MAN) today

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About the airport

Manchester is the largest UK airport outside London and the main airport for the north of England. It has a strong holiday market (Jet2, easyJet, Ryanair, TUI) and long-haul links to the Gulf hubs, North America and Asia.

Departures from Manchester are covered by UK261; flights to Manchester from the EU are covered by EU261 with any airline.

How punctual is Manchester? (2025)

Flights operated
194,144

2025, at UK airports

On time (≤ 15 min late)
64.5%

close to the UK average (72.7%)

3 hours or more late
0.80%

1 in 125 flights · worse than the UK average

Cancelled
0.96%

1,874 flights · close to the UK average

Average delay
19.8 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 Manchester

AirlineFlightsOn time3 h+ lateCancelledAvg delay
Ryanair49,47567.8%0.88%0.34%19 min
easyJet40,56564.5%0.79%1.21%20 min
Jet223,29851.7%0.80%0.15%27 min
TUI Airways13,41353.6%1.04%0.15%26 min
Aer Lingus8,19669.8%1.05%3.45%17 min
Loganair5,15675.8%0.74%2.44%14 min
British Airways5,11874.0%0.19%1.12%13 min
Lufthansa4,71568.5%0.25%1.46%15 min
KLM4,05658.6%0.34%2.29%20 min
SAS2,83677.3%0.10%1.12%11 min
Turkish Airlines2,66570.2%0.30%0.60%14 min
Virgin Atlantic2,42781.0%0.65%0.94%12 min
Air France2,39054.7%1.24%1.36%24 min
SunExpress2,37465.6%0.21%0.17%16 min
Qatar Airways2,37277.7%0.67%0.29%12 min

Top destinations from Manchester – 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 MANReturn
Dublin9,2890.77%1.32%265 km£220€250
Amsterdam7,5520.49%2.13%487 km£220€250
Paris5,3730.99%1.41%588 km£220€250
Alicante5,2100.90%0.13%1,681 km£350€400
London5,0990.19%1.07%243 km£220£220
Tenerife4,8860.71%0.33%3,048 km£350€400
Palma de Mallorca4,1341.16%0.24%1,581 km£350€400
Antalya4,1270.63%0.17%3,130 km£350UK/EU airline only
Belfast3,7780.81%0.76%295 km£220£220
Málaga3,4580.63%0.63%1,863 km£350€400
Barcelona3,4171.11%0.67%1,380 km£220€250
Istanbul3,0030.50%0.53%2,667 km£350UK/EU airline only
Copenhagen2,9970.60%0.86%995 km£220€250
Lanzarote2,9860.77%0.20%2,867 km£350€400
Belfast2,8411.16%4.28%274 km£220£220
Frankfurt2,7870.25%1.14%832 km£220€250
Faro2,7220.55%0.58%1,869 km£350€400
Dalaman2,7120.40%0.40%3,024 km£350UK/EU airline only
Lisbon2,4001.03%1.40%1,703 km£350€400
Doha2,3700.67%0.29%5,409 km£520UK/EU airline only
Munich2,3310.29%2.02%1,130 km£220€250
Dubai2,1900.95%0.41%5,655 km£520UK/EU airline only
Geneva2,1761.04%1.45%993 km£220€250
Zurich1,9850.15%1.44%1,007 km£220€250
Prague1,9241.08%0.77%1,192 km£220€250
Aberdeen1,9191.02%1.99%428 km£220£220
Brussels1,9050.62%1.35%562 km£220€250
Isle Of Man1,8920.72%2.47%–––
Berlin1,7840.72%1.65%1,063 km£220€250
Malta1,7420.98%0.11%2,342 km£350€400

All routes from Manchester: route list · UK delay statistics

Air traffic flow delays at Manchester (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, 101,618 flights arrived at MAN; 4,808 of them were held back this way, 2,470 by more than 15 minutes – an average of 1.11 minutes per arrival.

What caused the ATFM delay

  • aerodrome capacity66%
  • weather33%
  • equipment (non-ATC)1%
  • ATC capacity0%
  • equipment (ATC)0%

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: 7 January 2025 – 9,609 minutes, mostly weather; 15 December 2025 – 8,802 minutes, mostly aerodrome capacity; 12 October 2025 – 5,546 minutes, mostly weather.

2026 so far (to 30 September 2026): 79,550 arrivals, 0.91 minutes of ATFM delay per arrival (better than 2025), mainly aerodrome capacity (85%) and weather (10%).

Check what happened at MAN on your travel day →

What this means for a claim: ATFM delays come from weather (33% here), air traffic control capacity and staffing (1%) 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.

Typical delay causes at Manchester Airport

  • Summer peaks: early-morning holiday departures build up delays that carry through the day.
  • Airport infrastructure problems, such as the power cut that disrupted Terminals 1 and 2 in June 2024. Whether an airport failure is an extraordinary circumstance for the airline depends on the facts; the airline's duty of care applies either way.
  • Technical faults on aircraft – not extraordinary circumstances, so compensation is normally due (CJEU C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann).

Airlines you are likely to fly with here

Check your flight from Manchester

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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

  • On package holidays the flight is still covered by UK261 or EU261; claim the compensation from the airline, not the tour operator.
  • Ask the airline staff for meal vouchers if your delay reaches 2 hours or more (depending on distance); keep receipts for anything you buy yourself.

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes. Since Brexit the United Kingdom applies its own rule with the same content (UK261): any flight departing from Manchester 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 Manchester 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.