An investigation of flight delays at airports across the country has ranked the worst to the best for late take-offs.

Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data by the PA news agency found Birmingham Airport was the worst in the UK for flight delays last year.

Departures from the West Midlands airport were an average of 12 minutes and 24 seconds late taking-off in 2021.

Southampton Airport had the second poorest record, followed by Heathrow, Exeter and Aberdeen airports.

The best performance was recorded by Southend Airport, with flights delayed by an average of just two minutes and 48 seconds.

Bournemouth was ranked 12 out of 24 airports.

The ranking takes into account all scheduled and chartered departures.

Cancelled flights are not included.

Punctuality across all UK airports in 2021 was better than before the virus crisis, due to the reduction in flights caused by travel restrictions.

Jo Rhodes, an expert for consumer magazine Which? Travel, said 2022 “has been a different story entirely” as the sector is struggling to cope with the spike in passenger numbers.

She went on: “Holidaymakers have endured wide-scale flight cancellations as well as unacceptably long queues at check-in, bag drop and airport security.

“The Government must take action to restore consumer confidence in travel.

“That should involve stronger powers for the CAA, including the ability to fine airlines directly when they break the law.

“Ministers should also drop their ill-conceived plans to slash compensation rates for delayed or cancelled domestic flights.”

Airlines such as British Airways and easyJet have cancelled thousands of flights in recent weeks amid fears that chaotic scenes at airports will return during the peak school holiday season.

We have reported for the past few weeks on some flights due to land at Bournemouth Airport being diverted to Gatwick due to delays.

A TUI flight which was scheduled to land at Bournemouth Airport in the early hours of Saturday July 2 had to be diverted to Gatwick Airport again. 

For the past three weeks, passengers of TUI flights from Tenerife and Rhodes have landed 110 miles away in London’s Gatwick Airport.

Read more: Where you can fly from Bournemouth Airport in 2022

Full ranking of UK airports based on flight punctuality in 2021

Airports are ordered from the longest average delay per flight to the shortest (duration in brackets).

1. Birmingham (12 minutes and 24 seconds)

2. Southampton (12 minutes)

3. Heathrow (11 minutes and 48 seconds)

4. Exeter (11 minutes and 12 seconds)

5. Aberdeen (10 minutes and 36 seconds)

6. Doncaster Sheffield (10 minutes and 18 seconds)

7. Luton (nine minutes and 42 seconds)

8. Manchester (nine minutes and 30 seconds)

9. Glasgow (eight minutes and 30 seconds)

10. Leeds Bradford (seven minutes and 42 seconds)

11. Newcastle (seven minutes and 24 seconds)

12. Bournemouth (seven minutes and 18 seconds)

13. Edinburgh (seven minutes and 12 seconds)

14. Liverpool (John Lennon) (seven minutes and six seconds)

15. Cardiff (six minutes and 48 seconds)

16. London City (six minutes and 12 seconds)

17. Bristol (six minutes and six seconds)

18. Stansted (six minutes)

19. East Midlands International (six minutes)

20. Gatwick (five minutes and 54 seconds)

21. Belfast City (George Best) (four minutes and 54 seconds)

22. Teesside International (four minutes and 48 seconds)

23. Belfast International (four minutes and 30 seconds)

24. Southend (two minutes and 48 seconds)