UK air passengers continued to suffer similar levels of flights delays in 2014 as airline punctuality dipped marginally year-on-year.
The on-time performance dropped by one percentage point in the last year to 79%.
The average delay across all scheduled passenger flights in 2014 was 12 minutes – the same as the previous year.
But the overall on-time performance for charter passenger flights was 73%, a decline of four percentage points from 2013.
The average delay for charter passenger flights also deteriorated, increasing from 17 minutes in 2013 to 18 minutes last year, according to new Civil Aviation Authority data, based on flights monitored from 10 UK airports.
The news came as latest CAA figures show the number of passengers using UK airports increased to 238 million in 2014, just short of the 2007 peak.
Gatwick had the lowest number of flights on time at 74% and also had the longest average delay of 15 minutes.
Newcastle, Manchester and Heathrow were the only airports to see improvements in on-time performance.
The other seven airports saw punctuality performance drop, with the biggest falls being at Birmingham and Luton, where the decline was five percentage points.
London City achieved the highest punctuality record with 88% of flights on time and also had the shortest average delay of seven minutes.
The average delay across all scheduled flights monitored in the last quarter of 2014 was 12 minutes, the same as in the final three months of 2013 and 2012.
However, charter flights on-time performance decreased by four percentage points to 73%. The average delay increased by three minutes, from 13 minutes to 17 minutes.
Flights to and from Billund in Denmark recorded the highest on-time performance of 87% in the quarter and Delhi the lowest at 58%, and also the longest average delay at 30 minutes. Flights to and from Rotterdam achieved the lowest average delay of seven minutes.
The CAA’s group director for regulatory policy, Iain Osborne, said: “Arriving on time matters to passengers and our work helps ensure consumers have the best data and information to make better and more informed choices.
“In the last five years punctuality has been improving and it is therefore disappointing to see a small dip in performance in the last year.
“Notwithstanding this, the industry has had to deal with some unseasonably poor weather and a number of overseas air traffic control strikes, both beyond their control.
“With this in mind we expect the industry to continue to build on the overall positive trajectory and to do all they can to improve punctuality performance further.”