UK airports improve punctuality

Punctuality improved at ten of the UK's major airports in the final quarter of 2007, according to the latest figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The statistics revealed that the proportion of flights that left within 15 minutes of their planned departure time increased by one per cent between the fourth quarters of 2006 and 2007.

All monitored locations, including Gatwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport, saw an increase in the proportion of scheduled flights operating on time, with the exception of Heathrow and London City.

The average delay at surveyed airports dropped from 18 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 17 minutes in 2007.

According to the CAA figures, flights into Leeds Bradford Airport had the best on-time performance and the shortest average delay of the top 75 destinations from surveyed airports at the end of 2007.

The Yorkshire hub handled 84 per cent of its flights on time and saw an average delay of eight minutes.