All-Causes Delays to Air Transport in Europe - Quarter 2 2023

CODA Digest
EUROCONTROL CODA Digest - Q2 2023 report - cover
Aircraft wing against clouds

The Q2 2023 issue of our all-causes delay and cancellations to air transport in Europe (CODA Digest), part of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager's reporting on network performance, is now out.

The average delay per flight in Q2 2023 decreased to 17.3 minutes per flight, compared to Q2 2022 where the average delay per flight was 18.7 minutes per flight alongside an increase in the number of flights of 8% when compared to Q2 2022.

Arrival punctuality remained stable in comparison to Q2 2022, with 69.9% of flights arriving within 15 minutes or earlier of their scheduled arrival time (STA), compared to 69.3% in Q2 2022.

Further analysis into the causes of delay shows reactionary (knock-on) delay contributed the most to the average delay per flight with a 44.6% share of delay minutes (down from a 47.5% share in Q2-2022), translating to 7.7 minutes per flight.

Airline related causes, such as ramp handling, passenger boarding, staff shortage, (etc.) delay ranked second with 4.3 minutes per flight.

En-route ATFM delay remained high at 2.3 minutes per flight, however this remained stable compared to Q2 2022.

Industrial actions and system implementations were a strong contributor towards en-route disruption during Q2 2023, with ATC industrial actions in France occurring in all three months of the quarter, with the most significant disruption occurring throughout April, there was also ATC industrial action in Italy on 02 April 2023. 4Flight implementation in Marseille ACC, Reims ACC generated en-route ATFM delays

ATFM airport delays increased to 1.4 minutes per flight, with Athens airport suffering from delays due to ATC equipment (radar failures), Copenhagen from ATC staffing and Antalya saw airport capacity delays due to works in progress.

Weather delays were also observed during the quarter, with some en-route seasonal weather (thunderstorm activity) delays recorded in Karlsruhe UAC mainly in June 2023.

* Governmental delay grouping consists of IATA delay codes 85 & 86 (see Annex Standard IATA Delay Codes (AHM 730) for further detail). More information and data is available in EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot #15 on checking COVID-19 documents.

Read the full report available for download below for more details.

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EUROCONTROL CODA Digest - Q2 2023 report