September 15, 2025, 1:02 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Even in the summer of 2025, millions of travelers needed a lot of patience at Europe’s airports. Despite a decrease in canceled flights, significant delays continued to cause frustration–especially at some international hubs, where punctuality was more the exception than the rule.
As BILD reports, the consumer portal “Flightright” published a comprehensive analysis of the 25 busiest airports and ten largest airlines in Europe from June 1 to September 12, 2025. The result shows: While the number of canceled flights has decreased, the rate of delayed departures remains alarmingly high.
Paris, Amsterdam and London lead cancellation ranking
The good news: The number of canceled flights has slightly decreased compared to the previous year. Paris Charles de Gaulle remains Europe’s leader in cancellations with 1.48 percent of flights canceled–followed by Amsterdam (1.37 percent) and London Heathrow (0.99 percent).
The situation was somewhat more relaxed at German airports. Berlin-Brandenburg (BER) significantly improved compared to 2024–from a peak cancellation rate of 3.01 to 0.91 percent. However, this only ranks fourth in the negative comparison. Frankfurt (0.73 percent, 9th place) and Munich (0.68 percent, 11th place) were in the middle range.
Lisbon, Athens and Manchester with worst punctuality rates
Flight delays remain a tense situation across Europe. Although the average delay rate at the four largest German airports slightly decreased–from 32.9 to 29.2 percent–the overall level remains high.
The highest delay rates were recorded by:
- Lisbon: 48.44 percent
- Athens: 44.98 percent
- Manchester: 42.86 percent
Also, London Gatwick with 42.59 percent and Palma de Mallorca with 42.29 percent were in the upper range. In comparison, Oslo performed best with only 21.34 percent. Germany is in the middle range with Düsseldorf (26.74 percent), Berlin (31.92 percent), Frankfurt (29.13 percent) and Munich (29.08 percent)–a slight improvement, but still far from top values.
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EasyJet and Ryanair–delays, but few cancellations
The airlines present a mixed picture: Although Air France had the highest cancellation rate at 1.99 percent, KLM (1.90 percent) and easyJet (1.27 percent) also stood out for many cancellations. Ryanair, on the other hand, canceled only 0.25 percent of its flights–a top value. However, both Ryanair and easyJet performed poorly in terms of punctuality.
- easyJet: 45.92 percent delayed flights
- Ryanair: 44.43 percent delayed flights
Thus, almost every second flight was delayed for both airlines–a significant burden for travelers.
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Lufthansa relatively reliable, Wizz Air with best cancellation record
Lufthansa proved to be much more stable in terms of punctuality: Only 26.07 percent of flights were delayed, and 0.83 percent were canceled. Swiss (38.26 percent delayed / 0.90 percent canceled) and British Airways (38.56 percent / 0.97 percent) performed similarly well. Wizz Air had the best cancellation record–with only 0.12 percent of flights canceled.
Flightright: “Punctuality remains a central issue”
“With nearly 30 percent of departures delayed at the largest German airports and peak values of over 45 percent in cities like Lisbon, Athens or Manchester, it is clear that punctuality remains the central issue in European air traffic,” analyzes Feyza Türkön, passenger rights expert at Flightright.