2023 Late Flights Update for Belfast City Airport

1st January 2023 to 31 December 2023

We have received the statistics on flight arrivals and departures at GBBCA for 2023 and they make eye-watering reading for those of us unfortunate enough to live under the flight path.

We have already pointed out on many different occasions that the same aircraft rotations were responsible for the majority of late arrivals and departures. In 2023 there were a total of 342 lates: 270 late arrivals and 72 late departures.

WORST CULPRITS

These are the biggest offenders and ranked in ascending order:

6.  Aer Lingus EI 3605 - Southampton to Belfast: 288 flights, 27 late (9.38%)

5.  Aer Lingus EI3619 - Manchester to Belfast: 313 flights, 40 late (12.78%)

4.  Aer Lingus EI3629 - Glasgow to Belfast: 292 flights, 50 late (17.12%)

Note: This flight operated on Saturdays in the summer season at an earlier time and these flights are not included.

3.  EasyJet EZY804 - Belfast to Gatwick: 181 flights, 32 late (17.68%)

2.  EasyJet EZY893 - Gatwick to Belfast: 124 flights, 35 late (28.23%)

1.  EasyJet EZY6570 - Belfast to Gatwick: 28 flights, 13 late (46.43%)

Note: This flight only operated on Mondays and this is the second year for it being the worst offender (2022: Late 15 out of 18 weeks)

Some points to note:

•  Of the 6 late rotations shown, 4 are for incoming and 2 for outgoing flights,  usually caused by the preceding inbound flight being late. This begs the question as to why Belfast residents should be the ones to suffer if the delay originated in the inability of some other airport to turn a plane around in the time allocated for this. 

•  All the lates concerned flights that were scheduled to land between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm. If they can’t achieve this target, then the airport must consider compelling airlines to reschedule for an earlier achievable time.

•  The performance of the Belfast to Gatwick flight EZY 6570, being late on nearly half of the time, is little short of disgraceful. You would have to wonder if the 9.30 pm curfew is being treated as something of a joke. 

•   If these late flights are a source of annoyance, you should use the airport’s  complaints form which can be obtained on GBBCA’s own website on their Contact Us page.

Better still, become a member of Belfast City Airport Watch. Membership is free and you’ll receive our newsletter by post which is published at regular intervals throughout the year. Don’t suffer in silence!