Easter Flight Odds: Which UK Airports and Airlines Cancel The Most?

Easter Flight Odds: Which UK Airports and Airlines Cancel The Most?

As Easter weekend approaches, travellers across the UK are gearing up for crowded terminals, unpredictable weather, and potential flight cancellations. To help holidaymakers avoid disruption, we've analysed official flight cancellation data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), examining which airports and airlines experienced the highest and lowest cancellation rates during the Easter travel period last year (March–April 2024). With another bank holiday approaching in early May, use our rankings to make informed decisions and minimise your chances of holiday travel woes.

Luckiest Airports

Rank	Airport	Percentage of Flights Cancelled
1	Southend	0.00%
2	Bournemouth	0.11%
3	Luton	0.17%
4	Liverpool	0.24%
5	East Midlands	0.27%

Southend

One of the smallest major airports in the UK in terms of traffic, it scored a perfect record last year during the Easter season. This is an underrated option for London and South-East based travellers.

Bournemouth

With just one cancelled flight last March and April, Bournemouth shows that small airports can cope too.

Luton

Luton Airport often gets bad publicity for its chaotic reputation, but defies expectations with a cancellation rate of just 0.17%. As one of the UK’s busiest low-cost hubs, it has extensive experience in handling high volumes.

Liverpool

Coming in 4th place, and a cancellation rate of just 0.24%, Liverpool is the strongest performer in the North.

East Midlands

A dependable airport located near the larger Birmingham Airport, East Midlands, benefits from having a less congested airspace than some of its larger nearby neighbours. Fewer delays mean fewer cancellations.

Unluckiest Airports

Rank	Airport	Percentage of Flights Cancelled
1	Aberdeen	4.46%
2	Teeside	2.89%
3	Belfast City	2.75%
4	London City	2.45%
5	Southampton	2.36%

Aberdeen

Top of the unlucky list is Aberdeen, where more than 1 in 20 flights were cancelled during March and April. A likely factor is the weather, as a regional hub focused on short-haul flights, disruptions can snowball quickly.

Teeside

Another airport where location may play against it to some extent. Poor weather can often cause delays and cancellations. The airport has also been undergoing growth since the end of the COVID outbreak, so expect some growing pains.

Belfast City

Despite its location close to Belfast’s business district, Belfast City Airport ranked poorly for reliability. Except for seasonal flights, the airport mostly just handles domestic flights across the UK.

London City

Mostly dealing with business travellers to and from London, it is unusual to see one of London’s airports on the list.

Southampton

Southampton had an extensive network of flights prior to the COVID outbreak, but has not since recovered to its previous levels. Low demand has been a frequent cause of flight cancellations.

Luckiest Airlines

Our findings showed that there were 5 airlines departing from the UK in March and April 2024 that had no cancellations at all.

Airline	Percentage of Flights Cancelled
Qatar Airways	0.00%
Sun Express	0.00%
Aegean Airlines	0.00%
Iceland Air	0.00%
JetBlue	0.00%

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways provides a large network of international options for travel from the UK to Asia and beyond, with Doha acting as its international hub. Considering that this is the main role, it is important that things run on time, and it seems they achieve that well.

Sun Express

A smaller airline mainly focused on destinations to Turkey, and operates from a number of airports across the UK. If travelling with them to Turkey this spring, your holiday should be in good hands.

Aegean Airlines

Aegean Airlines operates from Edinburgh, Heathrow, Manchester, and a seasonal service from Gatwick. The Greek flag carrier airline performed spectacularly during the Easter season last year.

Iceland Air

If you planned a trip to Iceland for the spring holiday, anything that goes wrong probably won’t be down to the flight. None of its 550 flights last year during March and April were cancelled.

JetBlue

The U.S.-based airline has regular flights from London and Edinburgh to New York. If you are planning a week away on the other side of the Atlantic, those flying with JetBlue should avoid any major issues.

Unluckiest Airlines

Rank	Airline	Percentage of Flights Cancelled
1	Eastern Airways	9.34%
2	Austrian Airlines	4.83%
3	Lufthansa	4.69%
4	Loganair	3.20%
5	KLM	2.67%

Eastern Airways

Eastern Airways only operates flights across the UK, acting as a connection for some more isolated parts of the UK, like Wick. Eastern Airways also operates at two of the airports at the top of the cancellation list, Aberdeen and Teeside.

Austrian Airlines

If a city break in Vienna is on your plans, be careful. Austrian Airlines had a higher than 1 in 20 cancellation rate in March and April last year.

Lufthansa

A fellow member of Star Alliance, like Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa has a similar cancellation rate as Austrian Airlines when it comes to its UK services.

Loganair

Loganair primarily operates flights across the UK, focused on Scotland. Loganair also famously operates the world’s shortest commercial flight between Westray Airport and Papa Westray Airport, a distance of just 1.7 miles. Since a large portion of its flights operate from Scotland and Northern Europe, it may be more vulnerable to bad weather than others.

KLM

We have grouped KLM and its KLM Cityhopper service together, and while Cityhopper has a much better rate overall, the picture overall across all KLM services gives a 2.67% cancellation rate.

Tips for Travellers and Your Rights Under Law

If your Easter travel plans are disrupted by delays or cancellations, it pays to be prepared:

• Choose wisely: Opt for airports and airlines with historically low cancellation rates to minimise your risk of disruption, particularly during busy periods.
• Know your rights: Under UK law, specifically EU Regulation 261/2004 (which the UK retained after Brexit), if your flight is cancelled or delayed significantly, you could be entitled to compensation. Airlines must also offer you the choice of an alternative flight or a full refund.
• Stay informed: Always check flight status updates directly through your airline or airport before setting off. Early awareness helps manage disruptions more effectively.
• Document everything: Keep records of your booking, boarding passes, and communications from the airline if you experience disruption, as this will help when making a claim.

By taking these steps, you can ease the stress of travelling this Easter and be better prepared for future journeys, including the upcoming May bank holiday weekend.

Methodology and Sources

Flight cancellation rates used in this article were obtained from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reports for March and April 2024, providing insight into airport and airline reliability during last year’s Easter travel season.

The CAA data covers the majority of major UK airports, although some smaller regional airports are not included. In cases where airlines have subsidiaries or affiliated operations reported separately (for example, KLM and KLM Cityhopper), we combined the data to give an accurate overall cancellation rate.