In 2018, delayed flights resulted in the loss of 2500 hours of tourist vacations. Almost 6,7 millions of airline passengers arrived late to their destination last summer. And the situation can be repeated in 2019.
Romanian passengers lost 2.500 hours of vacation last summer due to countless delays. The report released at the end of June AirHelp warns of delays this summer.
Globally, 1,2 million flights were delayed in 2018
Internationally, more than 1,2 million flights were delayed in 2018, between June 15 and September 15, of which almost 305.000 were in Europe.
During the aforementioned period, a number of 636.000 passengers from Romania encountered delayed flights. Nearly 5.600 flights took off more than 15 minutes late, and 100 flights were canceled.
Regarding the flights eligible for compensation (delays greater than 3 hours) during the summer season, over 23.000 passengers were affected.
In June, 1.180 flights departed from Romania with delays greater than 15 minutes
The same number is also expected for 2019, especially as considering the first 3 weeks of June 2019, over 1.180 of flights from 3.800, departing from Romania, faced delays greater than 15 minutes and cancellations.
The comprehensive database that AirHelp has shows that Germany is the worst in terms of punctuality in Europe, with 48.000 flight hours late, and the UK is very close.
Although Romania is experiencing delays, our country is among those with a top punctuality, immediately after Finland. During the summer, the charter companies kept their punctuality, last year only a few had significant delays between June and September.
Romania, one of the few countries with the best punctuality on flights
Families going on a summer vacation will probably be the most affected. AirHelp study for 15 June - 15 September 2019 estimates that over 592.000 passengers will experience delays greater than 15 minutes and cancellations of their flights.
In order to avoid a stressful journey, passengers are advised to know their rights. EU law, specifically the European directive 261, allows airline passengers to receive compensation up to 600 euros per person in case of delays greater than 3 hours. This directive applies to all flights within the European Union and those operated by a European company.