A marginal improvement in scheduled flight punctuality in the final quarter of 2013 has been recorded by the Civil Aviation Authority.
The overall on-time performance at 10 airports monitored was 80%, one percentage point higher than during the fourth quarter of 2012.
The average delay was 12 minutes, the same as in the last quarter of 2012, while charter flight delays dropped to 15 minutes from 19 minutes.
Heathrow registered the poorest on-time performance for scheduled flights across the year, with only 76% of flights departing or arriving on time. London City registered the highest on-time performance of 89%.
Flights to and from Rotterdam recorded the highest on-time performance of 86.4% and Berlin (Schönefeld) the lowest average delay of 8.1 minutes.
Flights to and from Tel Aviv achieved the lowest on-time performance of 66.6% and Toronto the highest average delay of 20.8 minutes.
The on-time performance for charter flights increased by three percentage points in the quarter. Over the whole year, punctuality remained the same last year as 2012, with 80% of flights on time.
At airports outside of London, on-time performance increased by three percentage points to 79% and average delay fell by six minutes. However, at London airports, on-time performance and average delay remained unchanged with 73% of charter flights being early or on-time, and with an average delay of 18 minutes.
There were 324,000 scheduled and 13,000 charter passenger flights at the 10 airports monitored for punctuality by the CAA. This represents a 2.7% increase in the number of scheduled flights and a 0.7% fall in charter flights compared with the same quarter in 2012.
CAA group director for regulatory policy Iain Osborne said: “Whilst it is pleasing to see the majority of passengers arrived at their destination in good time at the end of last year, our figures show that too many people still had their flights disrupted by delays. We also know there were a number of cancellations during December that will have disrupted other passengers.
“Some severe weather clearly played a part in this, but there is still room for improvement.
“Airports, airlines and air traffic control service providers all have a role to play in delivering that improvement and it is vital they work together to make sure fewer passengers have their journeys disrupted by delays and cancellations.”