In 2022, a new era began in the industrycivil aviation. After two very tough years in which the pandemic forced airlines to make significant cuts in services and staff, the situation has returned to normal and step by step the number of routes and daily flights has returned more or less to 2019 levels.
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This, however, had a decidedly negative effect on the quality of services. Airports and major airlines found themselves having to deal with enormous passenger traffic without having the strength and personnel to do so. The consequence was an exponential increase in disruptions for those who fly in the form of cancellations and flight delays. Often even of many hours.
Many operators and airports have responded by limiting the damage. Others have not succeeded and they are the ones we will talk about in the next paragraphs.
The most delayed airports in Europe
Europe has been perhaps the continent most affected by these problems. This is what emerges from an authoritative study by Northerner which has listed the European airports that have accumulated the most delays between 2020 and 2025.
The worst by far was theLuxembourg Airport, located a few kilometers from the capital, which recorded an average delay on departures of about 48,8 minutes. And other very important continental hubs did not do much better such as Amsterdam Schiphol, with an average delay of 22,2 minutes, and Nuremberg at 19,3 minutes.
The Italian airports with the most delays
Unfortunately, some of the main Italian airports also appear in the analysis. Naples-Capodichino International Airport, for example, recorded an average delay of 27,5 minutes.
Similar numbers to those of Turin-Caselle, one of the most important structures for national and international traffic. At the Piedmontese airport, the average delay was 23,3 minutes.
He didn't do much better Milan-Malpensa, the second largest airport in Italy after Rome Fiumicino. In the capital city of Milan, on an average of 414.538 daily departures, the average delay was 22,6 minutes.
What to do in case of a delayed flight and when you are entitled to a refund
These are therefore extremely difficult times, the ones we are experiencing, for those who travel by plane. Fortunately, the victims of the poor service, thanks to the protections guaranteed by the Regulation (EC) No 261/XNUMX, can have access to even very significant compensation and refunds.
As can be read in the text of the legislation and in the guides AirHelp, a company that deals specifically with legal protection for air passengers, it is possible to obtain refunds for delayed flights: delays exceeding 3 hours, if not caused by exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the airline, give the right to reimbursements ranging from 250 euros for flights shorter than 1.500 km, to 600 euros for flights longer than 3.500 km.
And these are not the only rights that are due to those who have to suffer a delay. If this amounts to 5 hours, the passenger can give up the flight and obtains the ticket refund for the unused portion of the journey. Plus a free flight back to your departure airport, if needed.
To this must be added the right to assistance at the airport, which includes food, drinks and free access to communications during the forced wait.
Finally, those who have to face the inconvenience of a delayed flight and decide to accept an alternative transport proposed by the company, you don't have to pay any extra charge if the flight is of a higher class than the one purchased. On the contrary, you are entitled to compensation if the new flight is of a lower class.
Compensation that can be requested directly at the operator's counter by presenting the boarding pass and booking code, even better if accompanied by photographic evidence of the accumulated delay. All this while being careful not to accept discounts and promotions on future flights that could invalidate the right to reimbursement.
The least punctual airlines in the world
After discovering which airports have been the least efficient in recent years, it is time to focus on the companies that have recorded the highest number of delays to their flights.
To do this we will rely on a recent study by Bestbrokers and based on statistics from Oag, a UK-based air travel data provider.
According to this research, the least reliable company in Europe in recent years has been the Italian one Air Dolomiti, which “collected” 43,56% of flights delayed or even cancelled.
Immediately behind we find Air Serbia and Tap while the top 10 also includes big names in air transport such as EasyJet, WizzAir and Transavia.
The overall data for 2023 (the year of the study) shows an overall average delay of all European flights of 15 minutes. Almost two minutes more than the 13,3 recorded in the last pre-pandemic year. Delays, the companies claim, are mainly due to adverse weather conditions and the closure of Russian airspace following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Article published on May 27, 2025 - 09:53 pm
