Technical problems, strikes, storms – there are numerous reasons for delayed or canceled flights. However, an analysis shows that there are more and more of them.
The most important things at a glance
They had been looking forward to their vacation for weeks, then the shock: the flight was canceled or delayed. This is what happened to 30 percent of all passengers in Germany in the first quarter of 2023. This is shown by a current analysis by the air passenger rights portal “Airhelp”.
The UK has the highest number of delayed passengers
According to this, about every third traveler in Germany was affected by a flight delay. In 2022, on the other hand, it was “only” 17 percent of all holidaymakers. The situation is even worse in Great Britain: With a total of six million delayed travelers, the country takes first place in the ranking of absolute passenger numbers.
Turkey follows in second place with 5.5 million delayed passengers – followed by Germany with 4.7 million people affected out of a total of 15.5 million travelers. Calculated in terms of the proportion of all travelers, Portugal is at the bottom: 33.5 percent of vacationers left the country late, in Germany it was 30 percent.
In these countries, flights most often depart on time
Kosovo, Cyprus and Greece, on the other hand, were the most punctual: these countries had the lowest proportion of late travelers. In Kosovo, only 16 percent of all air travelers started late, in Cyprus 17 percent and in Greece 18 percent.
For comparison: In Germany, too, only about 17 percent of travelers started late in 2022. In the meantime it is already 30 percent for the first quarter of this year.
Frankfurt Airport hardest hit by delays
In Germany, passengers from Frankfurt am Main were hit the most: At Fraport, a total of 2.1 million of the approximately 5.6 million passengers started late. This corresponds to almost 39 percent. This means that the airport has deteriorated compared to the same period last year, when only around 23 percent were delayed.
Delays are also particularly common in Hanover: almost 30 percent of all passengers had to live with a delay here. The capital’s airport BER comes in third place in the negative ranking with around 28 percent delayed passengers compared to around 15 percent in the previous year.
Flight delays: Situation could worsen in summer
Julián Navas, AirHelp’s passenger rights expert, explains: “Strikes, protests and technical problems have already had a very negative impact on air traffic this year. We expect the situation to worsen towards the summer.”
However, he also gives hope. Travelers are not helplessly exposed to the situation. “If the airline staff strikes or the airline is otherwise responsible for the delay, travelers have a right to compensation from a delay of three hours,” emphasizes Navas, “it is worth having your case examined: Compared to 2022, those entitled to compensation have changed cases almost doubled.”
Passengers can look forward to compensation
According to the analysis, 3.4 million passengers in Europe are entitled to compensation. However: Across Europe, almost 32 million passengers were delayed in the first quarter of 2023. In 2022 it was still 20 million.
At the same time, however, the number of problems caused by the airlines themselves has increased. In such a case, travelers are entitled to compensation. The countries with the most eligible passengers in 2023 are Turkey (945,000 passengers), Germany (579,000 passengers) and France (449,000 passengers).
