All-causes delay to Air Transport Europe for Q2 2021

This CODA Digest covers April, May and June 2021 (Q2 2021) and is published while European aviation remains affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have therefore reduced the CODA Digest to a minimum level of reporting.

In terms of all-causes delay (the delay to a flight experienced by airlines, airports and passengers), the average delay per flight for Q2 2021 decreased by 1.4 minutes to a 5-year low of 6.4 minutes per flight.

The number of flights significantly increased in comparison to the record lows of the peak in the COVID19 pandemic in Q2 2020. However, when compared to Q2 2019, there were 58% fewer flights.

Punctuality for the quarter remained high with 90.5% of flights arriving within 15 minutes or earlier than their scheduled arrival time (STA). This high performance occurred as airlines that could operate flights saw many depart ahead of schedule, in turn arriving often earlier than their STA.

Analysis into the causes of delay shows a change in the ranking of delay causes, comparing to recent quarter’s airline related delay overtook reactionary as the largest contributor to the average delay per flight at 2.4 minutes per flight.

Delays due to Governmental causes* remain in third place contributing 0.9 minutes to the average delay per flight. Despite falling this translates to a 20% share of generated primary delay minutes and remains a significant burden to airline and airport operations.

At the opposite end of the scale, ATFM en-route delay remained at a low and stable level of 0 minutes per flight.

Learn more in the full report.

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All-causes delay to Air Transport for Q2 2021