Despite the delays, cancellations and all-round chaos afflicting travel this summer, Dublin Airport has ranked as the fourth-best airport to travel through in July, just behind Bergamo, Gran Canaria and Bucharest.
Given the amount of negative attention Dublin Airport has had to deal with since the beginning of the summer this will come as a surprise to many, but the data suggests that the airport is faring much better than its counterparts across Europe.
Statistics released by online travel agency Hoppers Inc and compiled by aviation analytics group Official Aviation Guide show that only 15% of flights from Dublin Airport have been delayed in July and 1.6% have been cancelled altogether.
These are clearly worrying numbers in normal times, but this summer has proven to be anything but normal, with much of the chaos at the airports down to a perfect storm of issues including increased passenger volume, major staff shortages and ongoing outbreaks of Covid.
Compare Dublin’s numbers to Brussels, which ranks as the worst-performing airport in Europe: so far this month, 72% of flights have been delayed and 2.5% have been cancelled. Heathrow Airport, which has been in the news in recent days for its decision to cap passenger numbers at 100,000 a day, didn’t even feature in the top 10 list of worst-performing airports.
Other worst performing airports are Frankfurt (68% delayed; 7.8% cancelled), Eindhoven Airport (67% delayed; 1.8% cancelled), Luton (66% delayed and 2.7% cancelled) and Budapest (65% delayed and 2.1% cancelled).
Best in Class
The best-performing airport is Bergamo, which saw only 3% of flights delayed and 1% cancellations. Gran Canaria Airport saw 8% of flights delayed and only 0.3% cancelled, while 10% of flights from Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest were delayed and 1.7% were cancelled.
The data indicates that smaller, regional airports with lighter flight schedules are better equipped to handle the summer chaos. All of which reflects well on Dublin Airport, which is the country’s main aviation transit point. There was no data for other Irish airports in Cork, Kerry and Shannon.
