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The airports with the highest chance of being delayed

The biggest dread for holidaymakers is a delayed flights but there are some airports where that is far more likely to happen than others.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most likely airports where you will be delayed are in London – Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton, according to a BBC investigation.

It found that Gatwick Airport suffered the most flight delays last summer, with 30% of flights from there recorded as delayed by at least 30 minutes.

Gatwick Airport suffered the most flight delays last summer (Rex)
Gatwick Airport suffered the most flight delays last summer (Rex)

That figure equates to a staggering 107,825 flights in total.

According to the data, around 38,000 of 199,000 international flights from UK airports to popular destinations were delayed between June and September 2016.

But while the most likely places to be delayed were in the south, it was in fact a chartered flight from Manchester to Dusseldorf that suffered the longest delay – at 779 minutes, or nearly 13 hours.

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The route with the most delays was from Heathrow to Accra in Ghana, where 70% of flights were delayed by over 30 minutes last summer.

A spokesman for Gatwick said the airport would continue to do everything possible to prevent delays occurring.

They told the BBC: “Repeated strike action on the continent over recent years and heavily congested airspace above parts of Europe and London, have led to a significant increase in the number of delays caused by wider air traffic control issues outside Gatwick’s control.

Around 38,000 of 199,000 international flights from UK airports were delayed by more than 30 minutes between June and September 2016 (Rex)
Around 38,000 of 199,000 international flights from UK airports were delayed by more than 30 minutes between June and September 2016 (Rex)

“Gatwick has more flights to Europe than any UK airport and is impacted disproportionately by events on the continent.”

The analysis also found that holidaymakers face an average delay of 21 minutes, with one in five flights to popular holiday destinations delayed by more than half an hour.

Top pic: Rex