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Newcastle Airport is bucking a national trend of increased delays for airline passengers at the UK's major airports, new figures revealed yesterday.
Newcastle was the only airport to achieve an improvement in the percentage of scheduled flights taking off or arriving on time in the first three months of this year.
It was also the only one where the average delay for scheduled flights was less than in the same period last year.
In addition, the official statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority show that only Newcastle and Luton airports saw average delays for charter flights improve in January to March this year.
The new figures ( which follow similar impressive flight punctuality statistics for Newcastle in the final quarter of last year ( were yesterday welcomed by airport officials and passengers' representatives.
The latest CAA statistics cover the first quarter of this year and relate to flights in and out of 10 airports ( Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Luton, Stansted, Edinburgh, Newcastle and London City.
Overall they show that the proportion of on-time charter flights fell from 69pc in the first three months of 2004 to 66pc this year. The average delay was 28 minutes compared with 22 minutes last year.
The number of on-time scheduled flights at the 10 airports fell from 76pc to 73pc and the average delay was 15 minutes compared to 13 minutes in the same period last year.
At Newcastle, 76pc of charter flights were on time compared to 68pc last year and the average delay was 18 minutes, a minute less than in 2004.
On scheduled flights, 79pc were on time compared to 77pc last year and the average delay was 12 minutes compared to 14 last year.
The longest delays were at Gatwick where charter flights were delayed by an average of 34 minutes.
Last night, Dorothy Craig, who chairs the Newcastle Airport Consultative Committee which represents airline passengers, said: "We are delighted that the punctuality record is so good, especially now that it has happened two times in a row, and long may it continue.
An airport spokeswoman said: "We have a modern, recently extended terminal which enables passengers to complete the check-in and security procedures quickly, meaning that we can focus on having aircraft boarded and ready to depart on time.
Source: The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne
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