UK Edition
Revealed: UK's worst months, airlines and airports for delays
August is the best summer month to fly and avoid delays, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The two worst months for delays were - unsurprisingly - the months of June and July, but then instead of being followed by August, December edged in as the third worst month to travel.
While there are smaller average delay times in other months of the year, every month still shows delay figures that could disrupt people traveling for business or leisure.
Gatwick is worst culprit for delayed flights
London's Gatwick is the airport with delays occurring most frequently, based on data recorded from every flight throughout 2016.
The data recorded the length of an average delay - ranging from 15 minutes to over 360 minutes late.
In Gatwick, delays were recorded on over 30 per cent of all flights - a figure closely followed by the UK's other major airports. 23 per cent of these were delayed from 15 - 60 minutes.
The airport with the worst percentage of flights delayed over an hour was Gatwick, with nearly 8 per cent on average.
The busiest airports were Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Edinburgh, with a combined flight sum of over 1.2 million flights in 2016.
The number of flights and passengers is increasing annually in almost all of the UK's 25 main airports and with people flocking to warmer climates or city breaks all year-round, it's no surprise that there are delays.
With more flights leaving the UK annually, congested air spaces, particularly in London, are likely to be a cause of concern for holiday makers looking to avoid delays.
A number of factors can cause flight delays including adverse weather conditions - more likely in winter months, backlog delays from other flights or even IT failures.
Delays are abundant on budget flights
Budget airlines are the most popular way for Britons to fly. According to the data, EasyJet was on average, the most delayed airline.
The lower prices and regular flight time are extremely attractive factors to holiday makers when booking travel, but this can later be outshone by disruptive - and sometimes significant - delays.
The data revealed that most of the top ten airlines saw average delays of around 10-20 minutes on every flight.
However, as an average, this doesn't reflect those flights with lengthy delays or even cancellations.
According to a French Pilot's union representative, if planes are scheduled to make six flights a day, then the last flight of the day will almost certainly be delayed or cancelled.
Spain is UK's favourite destination
The airports flown to most frequently from the UK were all in Europe, with the majority to Spain or Spanish islands.
Collectively, these destinations saw an average of around 15 minutes' delay.
There were over 13,000 flights to these destinations throughout the year, with the majority flying from either Gatwick or Manchester.
Customers have the option to claim compensation from the airline if their flight is delayed, and are entitled to food and accommodation if the delay is significant.