Representative ImageAs the UK heads into its busiest air travel season, AirHelp, the travel tech company supporting passengers with flight disruptions, has analysed flight data from the first half of 2025 to discover the most and least disrupted routes.
AirHelp studied data on all flights departing from the UK across 2025 - over 448,000 so far - to reveal which routes have seen the highest levels of disruption in the first six months of the year. With 14.8 million passengers disrupted during this period, 1.1 million people (23%) were eligible for compensation under UK 261, the United Kingdom’s air passenger rights regulation.
According to UK 261, passengers are entitled to financial compensation if they experience delays of more than three hours, cancellations less than 14 days before departure, or are denied boarding due to overbooking - provided the airline is at fault.
Flight disruption hotspots
Between January and June, the most disrupted flight route - defined as any service delayed by more than 15 minutes, cancelled, or resulting in denied boarding - was from Manchester International Airport to Cairo International Airport in Egypt, with a staggering 72% of passengers affected.
Closely behind were flights from Birmingham International Airport to Diagoras Airport in Greece and London Heathrow to Kigali International Airport, with disruption rates of 59% and 57%, respectively.
Rounding out the top five most affected routes were services from London Gatwick to Casablanca (57%) and Bristol to Dalaman Airport (53%) in Turkey.
Among the routes with the highest number of passengers eligible for compensation, London Heathrow recorded the highest numbers. Its route to John F. Kennedy International Airport saw nearly 19,000 passengers eligible, followed by more than 16,000 on routes to Delhi Indira Gandhi International and just under 13,000 to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland.
UK’s most reliable routes
Conversely, UK passengers seeking reliable, on-time departures can look to routes that have shown impressive performance in the first half of the year. Leading the way is the service from London Heathrow to Bole International Airport in Ethiopia, where 97% of passengers departed on time, followed closely by the route to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China with a punctuality rate of 94%.
Among European destinations, London Heathrow also stood out, with routes to Paris Orly Airport and Cork Airport each achieving 93% on-time departures. Other punctual routes included Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Faro International Airport in Portugal and London Stansted Airport to Murcia International, both with a 92% on-time performance.
Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, comments: “With over 14.8 million UK passengers already disrupted in the first half of 2025, AirHelp is committed to empowering passengers with the information they need to assert their rights. Whether it's understanding compensation entitlements or choosing routes with better on-time performance, passengers need transparency to make informed decisions, both about how they travel and which routes are more likely to involve disruptions.”
