Punctuality data
Our airport, airline, route and statistics pages use the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s punctuality statistics for 2025 (annual “full analysis” file, generated 25/02/2026 19:22). The CAA collects actual and scheduled times for flights at 25 UK reporting airports – 1,910,536 flights in 2025.
- What a flight is: the CAA counts flights at the UK reporting airport – departures and arrivals combined – against the published schedule. A delay is measured at the UK airport, not necessarily at your final destination.
- Weighted figures: the CAA publishes percentages per airport, destination and airline. We weight every percentage by the number of flights when we combine rows.
- “3 hours or more late” = the 181–360 minute band plus the 360+ minute band. “On time” = early or up to 15 minutes late. “1 hour or more late” = 61 minutes and above.
- Cancellation rate = cancelled flights ÷ (operated + cancelled flights).
- Brands: operating companies are grouped under the brand passengers book with (e.g. easyJet UK, easyJet Europe and easyJet Switzerland → easyJet). For compensation the operating carrier is liable.
- Coverage: 25 airports, 71 airline brands with 1,000+ flights, 568 routes with 1,000+ flights. Smaller routes are not shown to avoid misleading percentages.
- Limitations: one disrupted day can move a route’s figures; the data does not say why a flight was late, so it cannot tell you whether compensation was due.
Distances and amounts
Compensation bands depend on the great-circle distance between the departure and final destination airports (Article 7 of the Regulation). We calculate it with the haversine formula from airport coordinates (OurAirports open data, checked against our airport list). Bands: up to 1,500 km €250 / £220; 1,500–3,500 km and intra-EU flights over 1,500 km €400 / £350; over 3,500 km €600 / £520, which can be halved for a 3–4 hour delay.
The eligibility checker
The checker applies the rules of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and its UK version to your answers (what happened, route, details, airline, date, passengers). It runs in your browser and does not store your answers. It is an estimate, not legal advice: the airline’s reason for the disruption and the evidence decide the claim.
Updates and corrections
We update the data when the CAA publishes a new annual file and review every guide at least once a year – the “Last reviewed” date is shown on each page. Read our editorial policy or report an error.
Sources
- UK flight punctuality statistics 2025 – UK Civil Aviation Authority
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 7 – EUR-Lex
- OurAirports open data – OurAirports
We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.