Christmas flights: Leeds Bradford airport is the most likely to cancel your trip
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Leeds Bradford Airport has been named the riskiest airport to fly from this Christmas period after it has seen a persistent trend of cancellations year after year.
As Christmas approaches, many UK airports get busier, with crowds starting to form and check-in queues getting longer as families jet off to meet their loved ones, while others are using the time off work to take a winter holiday.
However, things don’t always go smoothly during this busy period, as flight disruptions and cancellations often dampen long-awaited festive plans.
In a new study by executive travel and airport transfer company SCS Chauffeurs using data from the Civil Aviation Authority, the researchers analysed the percentage of cancelled flights at 23 UK airports in December over a three-year period.
Leeds Bradford Airport had on average a higher percentage of cancelled flights than anywhere else in the UK. In December 2023, the airport had scheduled 1,618 flights, but 140 were cancelled, working out to an 8.65 per cent cancellation rate.
In 2022, there were 1,470 flights booked from Leeds in December, with 75 cancellations (5.10 per cent), while December 2021 saw 977 flights with 94 cancellations (9.62 per cent).
Leeds Bradford therefore emerged with the highest average cancellation rate over three years, at 7.79 per cent of all flights in December.
A spokesperson from Leeds Bradford Airport said: “Throughout the year, our team work around the clock to ensure passengers can safely fly to a variety of destinations across Europe.
“Cancellations can unfortunately occur due to a range of potential reasons and always as a last resort. We work closely with our airline partners to ensure disruption is kept to an absolute minimum.
“We always advise passengers to arrive with plenty of time, up to two to three hours before departure and to check their flight’s status regularly with their airline.”
At the other end of the scale, East Midlands has been dubbed the most reliable airport to fly from during the festive season, with an overall cancellation rate in the last three Decembers coming in at 0.28 per cent.
Over the past three Decembers, East Midlands had only nine flight cancellations, with only one of them being in December 2022, despite having 1,107 flights scheduled.
If there are Christmas plans overseas that you cannot miss, other airports that have very low average cancellation rates are Belfast International Airport (0.32 per cent), Exeter Airport (0.57 per cent), Luton Airport (1.03 per cent) and Birmingham International (1.13 per cent).
Airports that have been plagued with bad cancellation luck over the past few Decembers have also included Aberdeen Airport (7.68 per cent), London City Airport (7.11 per cent), Teesside International Airport (6.36 per cent) and Southampton Airport (5.23 per cent).
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