India’s flag carrier, Air India, has taken the ignominious title of topping a list of the UK’s most delayed scheduled airlines in 2024. In a report compiled by PA Media using data generated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Air India was officially ranked the worst airline for UK flight delays for all UK-based airports for the year.
According to the report, the carrier’s departures from UK airports throughout 2024 were an average of 45 minutes and 48 seconds behind schedule. The carrier’s route with the longest average delay was London-Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Bengaluru (BLR), with an average delay of one hour and 23 minutes across 50 departures. Services on the route only commenced in August 2024 on a five-times-weekly frequency. The services joined other services flown by the airline from Gatwick to Amritsar, Goa, Kochi, and Ahmedabad.
UK-based industry commentators have been particularly critical of the airline in the past, with poor punctuality being a key driver behind such criticism. However, Air India played down the on-time performance figures when asked for comment by PA Media. A spokesperson for Air India told the news agency, “During 2024, Air India’s flights to and from the UK experienced occasional delays, primarily due to factors beyond our control.
Air India on the rise
India’s Tata Group completed the purchase of national carrier Air India from the Indian government in January 2022. The carrier was sold after falling heavily into debt and suffering from a declining reputation with an aging fleet, punctuality issues, as well as significant competition from other Indian carriers, including the country’s largest airline, IndiGo. The airline currently operates from three UK airports, comprising Birmingham (BHX), Gatwick, and London-Heathrow (LHR), with routes to several smaller Indian cities, such as those flown to from Gatwick, starting in the post-pandemic era. IndiGo, meanwhile, will start its first flight between India and the UK in July 2025.
The airline is also undergoing a fleet transformation plan, with hundreds of new Boeing and Airbus aircraft on order, plus a major refurbishment of existing aircraft already underway. While such plans are set to transform the airline over the coming years, there will be no quick fixes for the carrier, and this latest report illustrates that there is still much work to be done in terms of punctuality performance.
But despite the legacy issues from its time as a state-run carrier, growth remains one of Air India’s primary tools to shake off the past. Data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows the airline operated 56% more flights from UK airports in 2024 compared with 2019. This figure is expected to rise further during 2025 as the carrier adds more flights and more frequencies. Cirium is expecting to see this figure rise to a 90% increase over 2019 in 2025.
Aviation consultant John Strickland told PA Media that there has been “a lot of work going on to put the airline back on track” after it gained a poor reputation for delays and cancellations. “This was partly caused by a lack of funds to purchase spare parts for aircraft, leading to some of its fleet being grounded,” Strickland said. “They are coming out of this period of malaise pre-the Tata takeover and now have to put in work on their engineering, manpower, spare parts holding, all those factors.”
He added that some of Air India’s promotion of its new Airbus A350 first class product has focused on the quality of its service. Yet Stickland cautioned that, “You can have great meals and a great crew, but fundamentally you’ve got to operate an airline which is as punctual and reliable as possible. “That’s a work in progress for them.”
Others in the top 10
Guernsey-based carrier Aurigny Air Services had the second-worst punctuality record for UK departures last year, with an average delay of 31 minutes and 12 seconds. The regional airline was followed by Turkish low-cost leisure airline Sun Express with an average of 29 minutes and 36 seconds, and then by TAP Air Portugal with an average delay of 25 minutes and 12 seconds.
The next five positions were taken by American Airlines (25 minutes), TUI (24 minutes 18 seconds), Wizz Air (23 minutes 48 seconds), SWISS (21 minutes 48 seconds), Emirates (21 minutes 36 seconds), with Vueling rounding off the top ten at 21 minutes and 30 seconds.
Irish regional carrier Emerald Airlines (operating as Aer Lingus Regional) recorded the best performance in 2024, with its UK departures delayed by an average of just 10 minutes and 30 seconds.
The analysis considered all scheduled and chartered departures from UK airports by airlines operating more than 2,500 of these flights last year. Cancelled flights were not included. The average delay for all these airlines was 18 minutes and 18 seconds, down from 20 minutes and 42 seconds in 2023.
