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New numbers show that for the second year in a row, Wizz Air had the most flight delays from UK airports of any major airline.
The Hungarian airline left the UK on time by an average of 46 minutes and 6 seconds in 2022.
It is based on a study done by the PA news agency using data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
That was much longer than the previous year, which was also the worst year for being on time.
Wizz Air has short-haul flights from eight UK airports, such as Birmingham, Edinburgh, Gatwick, and Luton.
The study looked at all scheduled and chartered flights from UK airports by airlines with more than 2,500 flights.
There were no flight cancellations.
All of these flights were about 23 minutes late, on average.
Tui was second, with an average delay of 40 minutes and 18 seconds, and Qatar Airways was third, with an average delay of 31 minutes and 48 seconds.
Norwegian Air Shuttle did the best, with an average delay of only 13 minutes and 42 seconds.
A man sent bailiffs to Wizz Air to get a refund
After the last-minute cancellation of flights for his family, a passenger sent bailiffs to Luton Airport to ask Wizz Air for money.
Russell Quirk said he had no choice but to find a different way to get to Portugal, costing him £4,500.
After waiting for Wizz Air to pay him back for months, he went to court and bailiffs were sent to his house.
Wizz Air paid the money, said they were sorry, and said that they “fell short of our own goals and what our customers expected.”
Which? a magazine for consumers, said that the company is being sued in county court along with other low-cost airlines.
A property expert from Brentwood, Essex, named Mr. Quirk told the BBC that the way Wizz Air treated its customers was “shocking, shambolic, and shoddy.”
He booked flights from Luton Airport to Faro in January of last year for a trip with his wife and three daughters during the May half-term.
When he woke up early on the day of their flight, he saw a message from Wizz Air saying that the flight had been canceled.
According to data from the CAA, this is the longest flight delay ever
Last year, air travel in the UK was back to 75% of what it was before the pandemic of 2019. But official numbers show there were “unacceptable” delays and cancellations at the beginning of the summer.
More than 224 million people went to and from UK airports, according to new data from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The number was up from 65.4 million passengers in 2021, which showed that there was a strong demand for flights as the industry continued to recover from the pandemic.
In 2022, about 2% of all flights had to be canceled. After the Covid crisis, travel picked up, making May and June the worst months for this.
The CAA said that the first half of 2017 was “challenging” for travel operators because there was more demand for air travel. Because of this, steps were taken to handle flight delays and make the system stronger.
It was harder for flights to get there on time because of this. Before the pandemic, 75% of flights got there within 15 minutes of when they were supposed to. There was a 22-minute delay on average.
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In December, snow and ice were among the things that caused cancellations.
Bristol was the only one of the UK’s ten biggest airports close to where it was before the pandemic. It had almost 8 million passengers, which was 89% of the total for 2019, and Stansted was right behind it with 83%.
In 2022, the most popular European place to visit was Spain, which included the Canary Islands. There were almost 37 million visitors, which is 83% more than in 2019.
About 5% of the total number of people went to Ireland, and about 5% went to Italy. This is 78% and 74% of what they will be in 2019.
Travel to the US kept getting better, and more than 15 million people went there, which is 70% of what it will be in 2019.
Recovery has been pretty even across the country. London, regional, and Scottish airports are at about 74% of their 2019 levels.
Wales got 79%, which is the same as what it got during the same time. 77% of the people who traveled through Belfast International in 2019 were from Northern Ireland.
