UK’s best and worst airports for delays ranked, including Liverpool and Manchester - full list

New figures for the worst airports for flight delays have been released and it makes painful reading for some of the UK’s most famous airports. The data, based on flight punctuality in 2022 and released by the Press Association, ranks airports from the longest average delay per departing flight to the shortest.

Birmingham take the unwanted No.1 spot with an average delay time of 30 minutes per flight, followed by Manchester, with an unpalatable 29 minutes. It’s good news for Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) though, which emerged as the joint-third best in country, with an average delay time of 15 minutes.

LJLA was also ranked one of the best airports in the UK by consumer champions Which?, who gave it Recommended Provider status in October last year, along with just one other airport in the country. The results were based on almost 8,000 customer opinions and both Liverpool and Exeter received ratings of 83 out of 100.

Ranking of UK airports by average delay per departing flight

• 1. Birmingham (30 minutes)
• =2. Manchester (29 minutes)
• =2. Doncaster Sheffield (29 minutes)
• 4. Luton (28 minutes)
• 5. Gatwick (27 minutes)
• 6. Bristol (26 minutes)
• =7. Cardiff (24 minutes)
• =7. Edinburgh (24 minutes)
• 9. Heathrow (22 minutes)
• =10. Newcastle (21 minutes)
• =10. Isle of Man (21 minutes)
• =10. Aberdeen (21 minutes)
• =13. Leeds Bradford (20 minutes)
• =13. Southend (20 minutes)
• =15. Glasgow (19 minutes)
• =15. Stansted (19 minutes)
• =15. Southampton (19 minutes)
• =15. Bournemouth (19 minutes)
• =19. London City (17 minutes)
• =19. Jersey (17 minutes)
• 21. Belfast International (16 minutes)
• =22. Liverpool John Lennon (15 minutes)
• =22. Belfast City (15 minutes)
• =24. Exeter (14 minutes)
• =24. Teesside (14 minutes)
• 26. East Midlands (13 minutes)