UK Airport Cancellations Revealed: Where Travellers Faced the Most Disruption

As holidaymakers begin planning their 2026 trips, new analysis of flight data from 2025 has highlighted which UK airports experienced the highest levels of cancellations—and which proved the most reliable.

The research, carried out by Luxury Group Stay using Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, examined Air Transport Movements (ATMs) across UK airports. These include any commercial take-off or landing involving passengers, cargo or mail.

Focusing on airports with more than 1,000 recorded movements during the year, the study compared total flights against cancellations to determine disruption rates across the country.

Regional airports top cancellation rankings

Southampton Airport recorded the highest proportion of cancellations, with 7.45% of flights affected—equating to 98 cancellations from 1,316 movements, or roughly one in every 13 flights.

Guernsey Airport followed with a cancellation rate of 5.35%, while Glasgow Airport saw 4.47% of its flights cancelled, totalling 231 disruptions over the year.

Belfast City Airport and London City Airport also featured among the most affected, with cancellation rates of 3.62% and 2.23% respectively.

Worst-performing airports (by cancellation rate):

• Southampton Airport – 7.45%

• Guernsey Airport – 5.35%

• Glasgow Airport – 4.47%

• Belfast City Airport – 3.62%

• London City Airport – 2.23%

Major London hubs show greater resilience

While Heathrow Airport recorded the highest number of cancellations in absolute terms—391 flights—its overall cancellation rate remained below 1%, at 0.97% across more than 40,000 movements.

A similar trend was seen across other major London airports. Gatwick reported a cancellation rate of 0.80%, while Luton and Stansted performed even better at 0.44% and 0.41% respectively.

Despite handling significantly higher volumes of traffic, these larger airports demonstrated greater reliability when cancellations were measured proportionally.

Most reliable airports across the UK

At the opposite end of the scale, East Midlands Airport recorded the lowest cancellation rate in the UK, with just 0.32% of flights affected—only nine cancellations across the year.

Belfast International Airport and Norwich Airport also performed strongly, with cancellation rates of 0.45% and 0.58% respectively.

Best-performing airports (lowest cancellation rates):

• East Midlands Airport – 0.32%

• Stansted Airport – 0.41%

• Luton Airport – 0.44%

• Belfast International Airport – 0.45%

• Norwich Airport – 0.58%

Bigger isn’t always worse

The findings suggest that while smaller regional airports may appear less congested, they can be more vulnerable to disruption. In contrast, larger hubs—despite handling far more flights—tend to offer greater operational resilience.

For travellers, this could be an important consideration when choosing where to fly from, particularly during peak holiday periods.