One out of every four flights in Spain does not arrive on time at destination
According to Eurocontrol data, 25.8% of flights in Spain did not arrive on time in 2023, due to problems attributable to the airlines or other unforeseen events, such as bad weather conditions. In the European punctuality ranking our country is in eighth place.
As of today, Tenerife Norte is the fourth most punctual airport in Europe in 2023, with a rate of 81.3%; Bilbao is sixth, with 80.7%; and Seville is the eleventh, with 78.6%, according to statistics from Eurocontrol.
These figures match those of Reclamio.com, which places these airports among those that have received the fewest complaints and show that, as a general rule, the higher the punctuality, the lower the number of complaints. Thus, Tenerife North airport has received only 2.2% of the total of 2023; Bilbao, 3.2%; and Seville, 2.1%.
In general terms, 40% of the complaints handled by Reclamio.com during this year were due precisely to the unpunctuality of flights that were excessively delayed.
When we ask the airline for compensation for the passenger it is because the delay has been very important and not just a few minutes. According to European regulations, in order to be entitled to compensation, the passenger must have arrived at his or her final destination three or more hours after the time initially scheduled by the airline, says Noem Fernandez, manager of Reclamio.com.
The country's largest airports, such as Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat, have worse punctuality rates. The former's rate is 78.3% and ranks 13thº, while the latter achieves 74.6% punctuality, and 29thº position. Madrid-Barajas received 35.5% of Reclamio.com's complaints and Barcelona-El Prat, 20.1%.
Ahead of the winter season, Reclamio.com expects the volume of complaints to be considerably lower than last summer and the number of complaints to stabilize at a lower level, given that as air traffic decreases, so do the number of incidents.
The only exception would be in the event of a new staff strike in any of the airlines, since then the flight operations would be affected.
The only exception would be in the event of a new staff strike in any of the airlines, since then the flight operations would be affected.