GLASGOW Airport has been named among the worst in the UK for flight delays.

The second busiest airport in Scotland - and eighth busiest in the UK - came joint last in a list of 10 transport hubs across the nation, an investigation has found.

London Stansted took the top spot for the worst.

Departures from the Essex airport were an average of 25 minutes late in 2018, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data.

A consumer group described the figure as “completely unacceptable”.

Glasgow Times:

London Stansted is the fourth busiest airport in the UK.

It is a hub for a number of low-cost eastern European airlines as well as being the largest base for Ryanair.

Birmingham and London Luton recorded the joint second worst punctuality performance, with aircraft typically taking off 19 minutes behind schedule.

The ranking takes into account every scheduled and chartered flight from 24 major UK airports. Cancelled flights are not included.

Flights across all featured airports were delayed by an average of 16 minutes in 2018.

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Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: “It’s completely unacceptable for passengers to be regularly delayed by nearly half an hour.

“These delays aren’t just an inconvenience but can leave holidaymakers hundreds of pounds out of pocket because of missed connections, transfers and fines for picking up their hire car late.

“While compensation is available for delays of over three hours, airlines should stop passing the buck and make it easier for their passengers by finally introducing automatic compensation.”

A Glasgow Airport spokesman told the Evening Times: “A broad range of factors can have an adverse effect on flight punctuality. However, we work extremely hard along with our airline partners to ensure we continue to improve the customer experience of our passengers.”  

Last year featured a blast of cold weather due to the Beast from the East and strikes by air traffic controllers in countries such as France and Belgium.

The AOA added that disruption is also caused by the capacity of UK airspace being constrained.

The aviation industry is working with the Department for Transport to modernise the way flights are managed to improve resilience and boost capacity.