December 16, 2025, 12:34 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
Europe’s airports are grappling with ongoing delays, while the number of flight cancellations has significantly decreased. Which airlines are the least punctual–and where there are positive developments.
Air travelers in Europe needed one thing above all in 2025: patience. As BILD reports, citing a recent analysis by the passenger rights portal Flightright, about one in three flights this year did not depart on time. In Germany, the rate of delayed departures was about one in four flights–a slightly better but still high figure.
Low-Cost Carriers with Highest Delay Rates
Delays are particularly pronounced among low-cost airlines: At easyJet, 42.55 percent of all flights departed late–nearly every other flight was affected. It’s a similar situation at Ryanair, where 40.68 percent of flights did not start on time. British Airways also ranks poorly with a delay rate of 39.39 percent. Flights were considered delayed if they arrived at their destination at least 15 minutes late.
At the lower end of the delay scale is the Spanish airline Vueling, with 20.58 percent of flights delayed. Lufthansa ranked third among the most punctual airlines with a rate of 23.33 percent.
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Significantly Fewer Last-Minute Cancellations
Despite widespread unpunctuality, there are also positive developments: The number of last-minute flight cancellations has decreased compared to the previous year. This is particularly evident at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). There, the cancellation rate was 1.82 percent in 2024. In 2025, this figure dropped to just 0.94 percent–a decline of nearly half. This places BER fifth in the European comparison.
Madrid has the lowest cancellation rate: In the Spanish capital, only 0.19 percent of all flights were canceled at the last minute. Overall, the average cancellation rate in Germany is 0.64 percent.
KLM with the Most Cancellations
Looking at individual airlines, KLM stands out with the highest cancellation rate at 2.28 percent. Air France follows in second place with 1.41 percent.
Notably, the often unpunctual low-cost carriers perform significantly better in terms of cancellation rates. Ryanair, for example, cancels only 0.23 percent of all flights–the best rate in comparison. At easyJet, the cancellation rate is 0.79 percent, while Lufthansa is at 0.84 percent.
“2025 shows that we are on the right track, but far from the goal. Fewer cancellations are a success, but punctuality remains the weak point in European air travel,” BILD quotes Feyza Türkön, a passenger rights expert at Flightright.