06.03.2006
Copenhagen Airport at the top of punctuality statistics

Copenhagen Airport is number one in Scandinavia in terms of punctuality. This appears from the annual statistics of delays at the 27 largest airports in Europe. The statistics are prepared by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) and cover intra-European flights.

In the statistics, Copenhagen Airport, the largest airport in Scandinavia, was ahead of the other two main Scandinavian airports: Oslo and Stockholm and ranked fourth in Europe in punctuality. In terms of delays caused solely by the airport or air traffic control, Copenhagen Airport was number one in Europe.

Dusseldorf in front

The best performer in the AEA statistics was Düsseldorf, Germany, where 13.8% of flights to European destinations were delayed by more than 15 minutes. The airport in Helsinki came in second with 15.5% and Brussels third with 15.7%. In Copenhagen, 16.1% of European departures were delayed by more than 15 minutes.

The worst performer was London’s Heathrow Airport, where 27.9% of intra-European flights were delayed last year. Next were Athens, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid and Barcelona – all airports where more than every fourth departure was delayed by 15 minutes or more. The European average was 21% against 20% in the preceding three years.

Flights can be delayed for many different reasons. The AEA statistics show that about a third of the delays out of Copenhagen were due to late arrival of incoming aircraft. Only every sixth delay – or 2.7% of all departures – was due to circumstances for which the airport or air traffic control was responsible, which was the best performance among the 27 airports in the statistics.