A new ranking by consumer rights specialist, AirAdvisor, has named the United Kingdom’s most reliable airlines. The study took into consideration 1.5 million flights over 2023 and 2024, and analysed cancellation rates, on-time arrivals, and delays.
Jet2 is the most reliable airline in the UK, AirAdvisor found, boasting a 0.02% cancellation rate and 67.4% on-time arrivals for 2024, giving it the top spot for the second year running, despite the challenges of strikes and weather issues. Its on-time arrival rate was 75.75% in 2023, falling to 67.4% in 2024. Serving 17 million passengers a year, Jet 2 flies from 13 UK airports.
EasyJet came second in the ranking, cancelling just 1.1% of flights in 2024 and reaching an on-time arrival rate of 66.1%. In contrast to Jet2, EasyJet is the UK’s largest airline in for flight numbers, which hit 391,784 in 2024.
In third place behind the two low-cost carriers came Virgin Atlantic, which achieved an on-time arrival rate of 70.5% and a cancellation rate of 1.7% in 2024, missing out after a strong year with just 0.3% cancellations in 2023. Meanwhile, the UK’s national flag carrier, British Airways, operated 354,000 flights, 66.8% of which were on time. It missed the podium, placing fourth with a 2.4% cancellation rate.
The analysis has been released just ahead of a season that AirAdvisor’s Anton Radchenko warns can be a challenging one for aviation and for families. “As Christmas travel ramps up, reliability becomes more than just a number,” he said, noting that for consumers, disrupted travel plans can make or break their celebrations. Reliability “is the key to keeping holidays intact,” he added. “When demand peaks, even small operational inefficiencies can ripple through entire networks.”
Radchenko also pointed out the notable and perhaps unexpected presence of a relatively small airline at the top of the reliability food chain, despite smaller operational figures that could easily be distorted by a few cancellations. “What we’re seeing in this data is that size doesn’t always equal reliability. Jet2, for instance, operates fewer routes than easyJet or British Airways but achieves cancellation rates that are virtually zero.”
Travel and Tour World (TTW) described Jet2’s placement as a “remarkable feat” that “reflects the airline’s dedication to operational excellence, ensuring that passengers experience minimal disruptions even during periods of high demand.”
