I really don’t want to fly much this summer because I know it is going to be Bad! Really Bad!
Besides the usual summer thunderstorms, long queues, delays, cancellations, and missing baggage. Here is some data from Radarbox on the most affected airlines and airports around the world. Think twice before you travel!
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Europe
Europe is the hardest hit region out of all.
3 miles of lines is common at busy airports such as Amsterdam Schiphol. If you have a morning flight, people turn up at 3 am to queue up……RIDICULOUS, I’ve never seen travel like this.
Here are the European Airports with the most flight cancellations between 1st April and 29th June.
Major European Airports such as Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol have set a cap on the number of passengers they will handle during the summer travel season. This means many flights are cancelled ahead of time and pushing the airfares to go higher.
“Setting a limit now means that the large majority of travellers will be able to travel from Schiphol in a safe and responsible way.”
Schiphol Group CEO Dick Benschop
A total of 7,026 flights out of London Heathrow Airport were delayed between 10th June and 10th July, crowning it as the European airport with the most delayed flights. London Heathrow said that six million passengers traveled through the airport in June – the equivalent of 40 years of growth in only four months.
| #1 |  Ryanair (FR / RYR) | 29992 | 33.37% |
| #2 |  Turkish Airlines (TK / THY) | 11768 | 26.73% |
| #3 |  easyJet Airline (U2 / EZY) | 11004 | 30.94% |
| #4 |  Lufthansa (LH / DLH) | 10147 | 27.09% |
| #5 |  British Airways (BA / BAW) | 7236 | 33.24% |
In the last few weeks, Ryanair accounted for the highest number of delayed flights in Europe.
Ryanair CEO Michael O´Leary tried to downplay it when talking to aviation journalist Kurt Hofmann.
“The airports are not a pleasant experience, but they are not a chaos. When you look to Heathrow or Gatwick as an example, 90% of all flights are still getting away“.
Ryan Air CEO Michael O’leary
| #1 |  Scandinavian Airlines System (SK / SAS) | 2000 | 11.01% |
| #2 | Lufthansa (LH / DLH) | 1917 | 5.12% |
| #3 | easyJet Airline (U2 / EZY) | 1477 | 4.15% |
| #4 |  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL / KLM) | 1444 | 7.66% |
| #5 |  Eurowings (EW / EWG) | 1252 | 7.73% |
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) had the highest number of flight cancellations in Europe recently after its pilots went on a strike. The troubled airline has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. On Monday, SAS operated 145 flights out of 286 from its three main hubs (OSL, CPH & ARN). This represents roughly 51% of its schedule
Eurowings is another carrier that has about 8% of their flights canceled last minute.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr cautioned that things probably won’t return to normal until the end of the year, but the risk is the turmoil undermines the recovery by deterring bookings.
The cancellation data in the chart below shows only last-minute cancellations and does not account for cancellations ahead of time.
North America
Toronto Pearson International Airport saw the most flight delays in North America, followed by Dallas Fort Worth and New York-JFK, wrapping up the top three airports with the most delays in North America. 46% of Air Canada flights run late.
| #1 |  Toronto (YYZ) | 7370 | 43.36% |
| #2 |  Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) | 5981 | 19.52% |
| #3 | New York (JFK) | 5815 | 28.01% |
| #4 | Chicago (ORD) | 5678 | 17.3% |
| #5 | Atlanta (ATL) | 5541 | 17.61% |
In the last 30 days, an average of one out of five flights a day arrived behind schedule – a total of more than 180,000 flights were delayed in the U.S. alone.
Around 20,000 flights were canceled during the same timeframe.
| #1 |  American Airlines (AA / AAL) | 25227 | 17.59% |
| #2 |  Southwest Airlines (WN / SWA) | 22243 | 18.8% |
| #3 |  Delta Air Lines (DL / DAL) | 17602 | 13.43% |
| #4 |  United Airlines (UA / UAL) | 15048 | 14.66% |
| #5 |  Air Canada (AC / ACA) | 12431 | 46.61% |
Asia Pacific
China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport tops the list of airport delays while over 30% of flights to/from Manila are late.
| #1 |  Guangzhou (CAN) | 3757 | 21.19% |
| #2 |  Manila (MNL) | 3512 | 31.39% |
| #3 |  Jakarta (CGK) | 3407 | 18.01% |
| #4 |  Hanoi (HAN) | 2497 | 25.6% |
| #5 |  New Delhi (DEL) | 2490 | 12.27% |
Looking at the list of most affected airlines, China Southern Airlines – based at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport accounted for the most delayed flights in the Asia Pacific region, followed by India’s low-cost carrier IndiGo and China Eastern Airlines. Vietnam’s Vietjet and China’s Beijing Airlines made it to the top five airlines in delays in the Asia Pacific region respectively.
| #1 |  China Southern Airlines (CZ / CSN) | 7005 | 12.96% |
| #2 |  IndiGo (6E / IGO) | 5248 | 10.74% |
| #3 |  China Eastern Airlines (MU / CES) | 4368 | 8.09% |
| #4 |  VietJet Air (VJ / VJC) | 3481 | 24.3% |
| #5 |  Beijing Airlines (CA / BJN) | 3369 | 10.19% |
Middle East
Moving towards the Middle East, Dubai International Airport topped the list with the most flight delays last month with 3,233 flights arriving or departing behind schedule as a result of single runway operation in Dubai in June. Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport and Qatar’s Hamad International Airport are second and third.
| #1 |  Dubai (DXB) | 3233 | 23.12% |
| #2 |  Tel Aviv (TLV) | 2726 | 38.78% |
| #3 |  Doha (DOH) | 1881 | 19.32% |
| #4 |  Kuwait City (KWI) | 1502 | 30.31% |
| #5 |  Riyadh (RUH) | 969 | 9.96% |
flydubai and Qatar Airways accounted for the most flight delays in the Middle East.
47% of Jazeera Airways flights were late. 31% of flights to the Middle East on Turkish Airlines also ran late.
| #1 |  flydubai (FZ / FDB) | 1979 | 35.52% |
| #2 |  Qatar Airways (QR / QTR) | 1803 | 18.77% |
| #3 |  Jazeera Airways (J9 / JZR) | 895 | 47.86% |
| #4 |  Emirates (EK / UAE) | 781 | 10.92% |
| #5 | Turkish Airlines (TK / THY) | 723 | 31.27% |
Latin America
Latin American Airports are also facing delays in flight operations following a gradual increase in demand for air travel after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two of Mexico’s largest airports saw the most number of flight delays, with Benito Juárez International Airport topping the list with 3,072 flight delays.
| #1 |  Mexico City (MEX) | 3072 | 17.42% |
| #2 | Cancún (CUN) | 1370 | 15.12% |
| #3 |  Bogota (BOG) | 1123 | 8.13% |
| #4 |  San Juan (SJU) | 973 | 15.75% |
| #5 |  São Paulo (GRU) | 762 | 7.67% |
Compared to other airlines, Mexico’s flag carrier, Aeromexico which mainly operates out of Benito Juárez International Airport had the most flight delays, closely followed by two Mexican low-cost carriers, VivaAerobus and Volaris.
| #1 |  Aeromexico (AM / AMX) | 2270 | 17.56% |
| #2 |  VivaAeroBus (VB / VIV) | 2135 | 20.85% |
| #3 |  Volaris (Y4 / VOI) | 2001 | 13.89% |
| #4 |  GOL Linhas aéreas inteligentes (G3 / GLO) | 1244 | 7.69% |
| #5 |  Avianca (AV / AVA) | 1227 | 9.47% |
Africa
Cairo International Airport had the highest number of delayed flights in the last month while over 30% of flights to and from Algiers were late.
| #1 |  Cairo (CAI) | 1372 | 19.28% |
| #2 |  Casablanca (CMN) | 849 | 22.6% |
| #3 |  Algiers (ALG) | 750 | 30.12% |
| #4 |  Tunis (TUN) | 637 | 24.99% |
| #5 |  Addis Ababa (ADD) | 531 | 10.75% |
Egyptair had the highest number of delayed flights, followed by the Moroccan flag carrier and Ethiopian Airlines. 28.8% of Air France flights to Africa run regularly late by more than 30 minutes.
| #1 |  Egyptair (MS / MSR) | 936 | 19.39% |
| #2 |  Royal Air Moroc (AT / RAM) | 736 | 17.23% |
| #3 |  Ethiopian Airlines (ET / ETH) | 708 | 7.64% |
| #4 |  Air Algerie (AH / DAH) | 645 | 17.38% |
| #5 |  Air France (AF / AFR) | 451 | 28.8% |
Here are some useful tips on how to travel these days in case you face travel disruption:
Know Your Rights
The Montreal Convention is the oldest treaty created to protect passengers’ rights and it applies to most international flights. In case of a physical injury resulting from a flight accident, for example, airlines are liable for up to EUR 140,000 (to cover medical expenses). Passengers are eligible for up to EUR 1,400 for damages suffered as a result of lost or destroyed luggage.
However, it may take a very long time to get airlines to pay up as there are so many cases filed.
In the U.S., if you get bumped from your flight, you are entitled to US flight compensation at least equal to 200% of your one-way fare.
The European Regulation EC261 rule is an extensive bit of legislation that requires airlines to compensate passengers in the event of:
- Denied boarding
- Flight cancellation
- Long delay of flights (three or more hours)
Under EC261 you may be eligible for compensation reaching up to EUR 600 if your flight is delayed by more than 3 hours or gets canceled. AirHelp helps air passengers around the world secure compensation for delayed, canceled, or overbooked flights.
How to File a Claim?
AirHelp can help you if you have a flight disruption within the EU (on any airline), leaving the EU (on any airline) or arriving into EU (on EU airline).
AirHelp can help you to determine whether you’re eligible for compensation and claims through the easy 1-2-3 steps on their website.
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Feature Image: AP
Data Source: RadarBox