The César Manrique airport in Lanzarote has been the most unpunctual airport in Spain during the first three months of 2024, according to data collected by the technology company AirHelp.
Almost 5,000 flights took off from Lanzarote between January and March, carrying more than 650,000 passengers to their destinations. However, only 72.3% of them arrived on time, which meant that more than 180,000 people suffered interruptions to their flights.
Next, the biggest delays were recorded in Gran Canaria, with 8,000 flights and more than 1 million passengers departing from this airport. Of these, only 75% did so on time.
The third with the most delays in the country was the airport of Tenerife South. Of the more than 8,000 flights - and 1.1 million passengers - that took off from the Tenerife airport, 76.5% started their journey at the scheduled time.
Nationally, during the first three months of 2024, more than 21 million passengers took a flight. Among them, approximately 82% of the trips were made on the scheduled time.
Iberia Express was the most punctual airline
According to AirHelp, the national airline Iberia Express is the most punctual airline. During the beginning of the year, more than 3,500 flights operated by the low-cost company departed from Spanish airports, taking almost 500,000 travelers to their destinations. Of all of them, less than 7.5% suffered some type of delay.
By airports - taking into account those with more than 200 monthly scheduled flights - the passengers who departed from Menorca have been the luckiest. Of the 100,000 passengers who took a flight from Menorca, 94.84% of them departed on time. Followed by the Balearic airport, the airports of Ibiza and Asturias are proclaimed as the second and third best airports of this first quarter of the year, with a punctuality rate of 91.8% and 90%, respectively.
Passenger rights
When the flight is canceled or the passenger is denied boarding on the plane, the airlines must provide an alternative flight that the passenger can reject if they do not wish to continue with their trip. In this case, you can request a refund of the full amount of the ticket.
In addition, if during the wait there are extra expenses caused by the interruption of the flight (food, accommodation or those derived from lost luggage), the company must also take care of these.
According to community regulations in this regard, passengers are entitled to additional compensation of up to 600 euros in case of delays of more than 3 hours on arrival at the destination, cancellations without prior notice before 14 days before the departure date and those passengers who are denied boarding due to overbooking caused by the airline. The claim to obtain this financial compensation can be made with retroactive effect up to three years after the flight date.
This claim depends and may vary depending on the reason for the interruption of the flight. For example, adverse weather conditions or medical emergencies may exempt the airline from the obligation to compensate. In the case of strikes, despite being announced, passengers have the right to make their claims.
