Holidaymakers off to a flyer

Holidaymakers have taken off without delays in 85 per cent of flights, contrasting with the national average of major airports showing a slight increase.

A total of 71 per cent of charter flights were on time from January to March 2012, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

Manchester and Heathrow had the worst on-time scheduled flight performance, at 79 per cent, while Glasgow, Newcastle, London City, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports all reached 85 per cent.

Punctuality of 307,000 scheduled and 11,000 charter passenger flights was measured, which was a two per cent decrease in scheduled and 6.4 per cent decrease in charter flights compared with the first three months of 2011.