Holiday flights are late

FEWER THAN half of holiday flights to and from 10 major United Kingdom airports were on time in spring, it was announced yesterday.

Just 45 per of charter services departed and arrived punctually in the April to June period, compared with 51 per cent for the same period in 1998, the Civil Aviation Authority said. The average delay on these flights, however, fell by one minute, to 40 minutes. The CAA statistics for the period also showed that 70 per cent of scheduled flights were on time.

Among the top 75 destinations, the scheduled routes to Zurich, Basle, Rome, Milan and Athens had poorer performances than the average, with only 35-45 per cent of flights on time.