February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — Dublin airport has slumped to the bottom of the league of 27 European airports for flight delays, with one in four flights taking off at least 15 minutes late during the second quarter of this year.
The Association of European Airlines found that 27.6 percent of departing flights from Dublin were late leaving, with the average delay being 38.9 minutes.
Arriving flights were also hit, with 27.2 percent turning up late, with an average delay of 39.9 minutes.
With London Gatwick and Paris Orly, Dublin was one of only three airports which turned in worse performances than in the same period last year.
Dublin has normally performed well and its worsening delay rate came as the overall rate for the 27 airports was 16.6 percent, down from 25.7 percent last year.
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In April, 15.1 percent of intra-European departures were delayed more than 15 minutes.
This figure was a dramatic drop from the 24.6 percent recorded in April 2001. The May figure was even lower, at 14.7 percent — the lowest monthly figure since early 1998, and the lowest figure for a summer month since 1994.
Most of the good results followed reduced flights in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.
Breaking down the reasons for the delays at Dublin, the ‘A said 12.6 percent resulted from airport and air traffic control problems, 6.4 percent followed late arrivals, 5.5 percent was due to loading and aircraft handling and flight operations, 2.4 percent was maintenance or equipment failure, and 0.7 percent was due to weather.