Delays flying into Heathrow are the worst in Europe
Baku, September 3 (AZERTAC). Passengers face greater delays flying into Heathrow than any other major airport in Europe.
Heathrow airport is so close to capacity that even poor weather can cause major disruption to schedules leading to greater delays than any other major airport.
Statistics compiled by Eurocontrol, which supervises air traffic throughout Europe, show that delays for planes heading to Heathrow totalled 1,676 minutes each day. Frankfurt came second, with a daily average of 1,410 minutes.
The German airport handles an average of 698 incoming flights a day, compared with Heathrow`s 667. Frankfurt has seen a dramatic improvement since opening a fourth runway in November last year. In 2011 its daily average delay was 3,400 minutes.
Paris Charles de Gaulle, currently Europe`s busiest airport, handling 721 flights a day, is the best-performing destination of the major airports. Incoming aircraft suffer a total of 641 minutes delay, largely thanks to its four runways. It is followed by Istanbul Ataturk, Zurich and Schiphol in Amsterdam.
Business leaders said the figures strengthened the case for a third runway at Heathrow, or additional runway capacity at an alternative airport serving the South East.
Other news in this section
