London City Airport tops flight cancellation rates
Analysis shows a 71 per cent increase in scrapped flights at the East London hub in one year.
Trust 60Craft 65Hype 45How this was reported ▾
The central claim is attributed to a named body (Heamar) and supported by data from the CAA.
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The article explains why the data matters and provides specific figures, dates, and street names.
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The headline is lively but the body of the article provides a balanced overview of the data.
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1 source assessed · methodology
London City Airport recorded the highest flight cancellation rate of all major airports serving the capital during the first six months of 2026. Research conducted by Heamar, using data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), found that 2.44 per cent of flights at London City were cancelled during this period. This figure marks a significant increase of 71 per cent when compared to the first half of 2025, when the cancellation rate stood at 1.37 per cent.
Between January and June 2026, London City Airport saw 555 flights cancelled. This is an increase of 230 cancellations compared to the same period in the previous year, when 325 flights were scrapped. Despite Heathrow Airport experiencing a substantially higher number of total cancellations, with 4,320 flights cancelled in the first half of 2026, its cancellation rate was lower at 1.84 per cent. Gatwick Airport followed with a 1.08 per cent cancellation rate.
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National context for cancellations
Nationally, the overall number of cancelled flights across the UK rose by 18.6 per cent in the first half of 2026, totalling 12,373 cancellations. This occurred despite a minimal increase of only 0.8 per cent in total flight movements. Heamar's analysis included 25 of the UK's busiest airports, with London City Airport ranking third overall for cancellation rates, behind Exeter (5.27 per cent) and Southampton (4.43 per cent).
The CAA defines air transport movements as take-offs and landings related to passenger or cargo transport, excluding air-taxi operations. Heamar calculated the cancellation rate by dividing the total number of cancelled flights by the total air transport movements over the relevant period, weighting the result by flight volume.
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Questions this report answers
+What was London City Airport's flight cancellation rate in early 2026?
In the first half of 2026, London City Airport had a flight cancellation rate of 2.44 per cent. This means that for every 100 flights scheduled, approximately two to three were cancelled during that period.
+How much did flight cancellations increase at London City Airport?
The flight cancellation rate at London City Airport increased by 71 per cent between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026. The rate rose from 1.37 per cent to 2.44 per cent over this twelve-month period.
+Who analysed the flight cancellation data?
The analysis of flight cancellation rates was conducted by Heamar, an aerospace tooling supplier. They used data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to determine these figures for various UK airports.
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