If you look around, you may discover that, all things considered, it’s not super expensive to go to Europe right now.
- The Euro and the U.S. dollar are hovering at a 1:1 level
- $1 U.S. = about 0.84 pounds sterling
- Thanks to budget airlines, you can fly between the U.S. and Europe for as little as $129 (to be fair, I haven’t actually *found* that $129 flight, but that’s what KAYAK is saying)
All that being said, you may have also read that a good part of Europe is something of a hellhole when it comes to air travel this summer. Thanks to, you guessed it, problems with hiring enough staff, there are crazy flight delays and cancellations, security queue that have gone on for hours, and not enough luggage handlers to cover all the travelers’ bags. London Heathrow, for one, with delays of upwards of 62% of its flights, has decided to limit airline ticket sales and cap departing passengers at 100,000 per day until they can get a better handle on things.
How bad is it? Hopper Inc., the Goldman-back online travel agency (OTA) just ranked Europe’s 10 worst airports for delays so far this month. They looked at the airports in Europe with significant passenger volume with the highest percentage of flights delayed and canceled between July 1st and 10th, 2022. Their data was sourced from OAG.
Here are Europe’s worst of the worst (read: the airports YOU NEED TO AVOID until things are better), according to Hopper:
Worst on time performance for July:
10. Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, United Kingdom – 59% delayed, 1.4% canceled
9. Cote D’Azur Airport (NCE), Nice, France – 60% delayed, 3.4% canceled
8. Schiphol Airport (AMS), Amsterdam, Netherlands – 61% delayed, 5.2% canceled
7. Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG), Paris, France – 62% delayed, 3.1% canceled
6. Lisbon Airport (LIS), Lisbon, Portugal – 65% delayed, 4.8% canceled
5. Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD), Budapest, Hungary – 65% delayed, 2.1% canceled
4. Luton Airport (LTN), London, United Kingdom – 66% delayed, 2.7% canceled
3. Eindhoven Airport (EIN), Eindhoven, Netherlands – 67% delayed, 1.8% canceled
2. Frankfurt International Airport (FRA), Frankfurt, Germany – 68% delayed, 7.8% canceled
(Note from Sharon: you know s**t’s got real when over 2/3 of a German airport flights are delayed
1. Brussels Airport (BRU), Brussels, Belgium – 72% delayed, 2.5% canceled
Notice an airport that’s missing? Yep, for all its delays, cancelled flights, passenger caps and piles of luggage reported worldwide, Heathrow didn’t even make the Top 10. To be fair a hopper employee clarified: “On a volume basis, London Heathrow is much larger than most airports, and our ranking is based on percentage of delays not number of people impacted.”
It’s not all bad news, though. Some airports in Europe – mainly smaller ones, but not all of them – are doing better. So if you’re flying to/from Europe this summer, these are the ones you may want to consider for your travels:
Best on time performance for July:
10. Malaga Airport (AGP), Malaga, Spain – 24% delayed, 3.3% canceled
9. Orly Field (ORY), Paris, France – 21% delayed, 1.2% canceled
8. Marseille Airport (MRS), Marseille, France – 20% delayed, 2.0% canceled
7. Alicante Airport (ALC), Province of Alicante, Spain – 20% delayed, 3.4% canceled
6. Adolfo Suarez-Barajas Airport (MAD) , Madrid, Spain – 19% delayed, 0.4% canceled
5. Fontanarossa Airport (CTA), Catania, Italy – 16% delayed, 1.1% canceled
4. Dublin International Airport (DUB), Dublin, Ireland – 15% delayed, 1.6% canceled
3. Otopeni International Airport (OTP), Bucharest, Romania – 10% delayed, 1.7% canceled
2. Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), Gran Canaria, Spain – 8% delayed, 0.3% canceled
1. Bergamo/Orio al Serio Airport (BGY), Bergamo, Italy – 3% delayed, 1.0% canceled
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