Delays worsen on holiday charter flights

Flight delays on some of the leading holiday airlines increased last summer, official figures showed yesterday.

Some 28 per cent of Airtours flights in and out of the major UK airports were more than an hour late between April and October 1999, compared with 21 per cent the previous summer, according to the Air Transport Users Council.

There were also increases in the number of late charter flights operated by Monarch, Air 2000, Flying Colours, British Airways and British Midland. Britannia had the fewest flights more than an hour late last summer - 14 per cent, compared with 19 per cent in summer 1998.