Flight disruption report

Flight disruptions in Europe: September 2026

Final figures for the full month.

How many flights were disrupted?

1.7% of departures from the 51 European airports we monitor were cancelled or arrived at least three hours late between 4 – 30 September 2026. Departures counted: 292,355. Cancelled: 3,126. Arrived 3+ hours late: 1,909.

Disruption rate: 1.7%
Departures counted: 292,355
Cancelled: 3,126
Arrived 3+ hours late: 1,909

Disruption rate by day

Share of departures cancelled or arriving 3+ hours late, per UTC day.

Disruption rate by day
Date	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
4 Sept	11,311	61	81	1.3%
5 Sept	10,329	35	43	0.8%
6 Sept	11,143	48	38	0.8%
7 Sept	11,243	41	40	0.7%
8 Sept	10,649	509	295	7.6%
9 Sept	10,933	200	167	3.4%
10 Sept	11,207	169	206	3.3%
11 Sept	11,339	63	74	1.2%
12 Sept	10,129	24	35	0.6%
13 Sept	11,142	46	30	0.7%
14 Sept	11,219	127	37	1.5%
15 Sept	10,557	137	49	1.8%
16 Sept	10,754	137	64	1.9%
17 Sept	11,038	93	51	1.3%
18 Sept	11,272	82	52	1.2%
19 Sept	9,992	59	29	0.9%
20 Sept	10,962	60	43	0.9%
21 Sept	10,921	83	52	1.2%
22 Sept	10,357	64	52	1.1%
23 Sept	10,622	84	38	1.1%
24 Sept	10,998	32	48	0.7%
25 Sept	11,211	34	56	0.8%
26 Sept	10,174	173	48	2.2%
27 Sept	11,005	215	45	2.4%
28 Sept	11,015	193	40	2.1%
29 Sept	10,317	175	145	3.1%
30 Sept	10,516	182	51	2.2%

The largest carriers

The ten airlines with the most departures from monitored airports this period.

The largest carriers
Airline	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
Ryanair	48,185	709	413	2.3%
easyJet	24,958	575	155	2.9%
Wizz Air	20,213	111	140	1.2%
Air France	12,447	116	42	1.3%
SAS	12,206	137	2	1.1%
Vueling	10,199	180	95	2.7%
Norwegian	9,132	57	16	0.8%
Transavia	6,932	57	35	1.3%
LOT	6,846	10	5	0.2%
Austrian Airlines	5,848	24	2	0.4%

Large airlines ranked by disruption rate

Airlines with at least 5,000 departures, ranked against each other from least to most disrupted.

Large airlines ranked by disruption rate
Rank	Airline	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
1	LOT	6,846	10	5	0.2%
2	Austrian Airlines	5,848	24	2	0.4%
3	Norwegian	9,132	57	16	0.8%
4	Iberia	5,507	42	18	1.1%
5	SAS	12,206	137	2	1.1%
6	Wizz Air	20,213	111	140	1.2%
7	Air France	12,447	116	42	1.3%
8	Transavia	6,932	57	35	1.3%
9	Jet2	5,752	22	77	1.7%
10	Ryanair	48,185	709	413	2.3%
11	Vueling	10,199	180	95	2.7%
12	easyJet	24,958	575	155	2.9%
13	ITA Airways	5,673	204	65	4.7%

Other airlines ranked by disruption rate

Airlines with 500 to 5,000 departures, ranked separately so small schedules do not distort the large-carrier table.

Other airlines ranked by disruption rate
Rank	Airline	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
1	BRA	730	0	0	0.0%
2	Iberia Express	1,523	0	1	0.1%
3	ASL Airlines	1,140	0	1	0.1%
4	AJet	541	1	0	0.2%
5	Enter Air	812	0	2	0.2%
6	SKY express	2,838	4	4	0.3%
7	Aegean Airlines	4,910	9	7	0.3%
8	FedEx	604	0	2	0.3%
9	VistaJet	1,134	0	4	0.4%
10	Tarom	1,094	0	4	0.4%
11	Royal Air Maroc	1,056	3	1	0.4%
12	KM Malta Airlines	757	0	3	0.4%
13	DHL	1,236	0	5	0.4%
14	Lauda Europe	1,792	0	8	0.4%
15	Emirates	1,241	1	5	0.5%
16	Iberia Regional	3,278	10	6	0.5%
17	Buzz	769	0	4	0.5%
18	Swiftair	535	0	3	0.6%
19	TAP Express	1,539	2	7	0.6%
20	Jettime	510	0	3	0.6%
21	Air Europa	3,618	4	18	0.6%
22	Pegasus	1,634	5	5	0.6%
23	Olympic Air	1,285	8	0	0.6%
24	TAP Air Portugal	4,225	23	6	0.7%
25	Condor	567	3	1	0.7%
26	AirSERBIA	565	0	4	0.7%
27	Lufthansa	4,213	24	9	0.8%
28	Air China	747	2	4	0.8%
29	Turkish Airlines	2,862	17	6	0.8%
30	airBaltic	2,404	17	3	0.8%
31	Qatar Airways	1,252	3	8	0.9%
32	Air Arabia	644	1	5	0.9%
33	TUI	3,090	10	20	1.0%
34	DAT	691	4	3	1.0%
35	Volotea	1,627	6	11	1.0%
36	Lufthansa City	568	6	0	1.1%
37	Ethiopian Airlines	531	0	6	1.1%
38	Smartwings	1,061	0	12	1.1%
39	Swiss	1,230	13	1	1.1%
40	Finnair	1,288	14	1	1.2%
41	Air Canada	594	3	4	1.2%
42	Luxair	582	3	4	1.2%
43	SunExpress	996	7	5	1.2%
44	Eurowings	2,628	28	6	1.3%
45	Helvetic Airways	687	7	2	1.3%
46	Aeroitalia	901	1	11	1.3%
47	Brussels Airlines	3,825	49	4	1.4%
48	Neos	542	1	7	1.5%
49	El Al	581	5	4	1.5%
50	Air Dolomiti	1,169	19	4	2.0%
51	Air Algerie	655	7	7	2.1%
52	Aer Lingus	912	15	6	2.3%
53	Aer Lingus Regional	701	1	19	2.9%
54	FLYONE	723	8	17	3.5%
55	American Airlines	965	27	9	3.7%
56	KLM	2,838	99	10	3.8%
57	British Airways	4,804	152	36	3.9%
58	Delta Air Lines	1,285	49	15	5.0%
59	United Airlines	965	37	22	6.1%
60	Animawings	538	14	21	6.5%
61	Air Corsica	552	42	8	9.1%

Airports

Departures from each monitored airport, most disrupted first.

Airports
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA)	3,692	482	45	14.3%
Brussels South Charleroi (CRL)	2,645	164	7	6.5%
Bacău (BCM)	104	1	4	4.8%
Barcelona El Prat (BCN)	14,843	236	187	2.8%
Rome Fiumicino (FCO)	13,748	213	164	2.7%
London Gatwick (LGW)	11,262	195	107	2.7%
Basel Mulhouse EuroAirport (BSL)	3,018	51	21	2.4%
Bologna (BLQ)	3,400	48	33	2.4%
Manchester (MAN)	8,625	113	91	2.4%
London Luton (LTN)	4,981	73	44	2.3%
Venice Marco Polo (VCE)	4,092	61	34	2.3%
Milan Malpensa (MXP)	9,404	114	88	2.1%
Birmingham (BHX)	4,263	36	51	2.0%
Valencia (VLC)	3,452	33	36	2.0%
Liverpool John Lennon (LPL)	1,811	18	17	1.9%
London Stansted (STN)	8,319	71	85	1.9%
Pisa Galileo Galilei (PSA)	2,017	21	15	1.8%
Naples (NAP)	4,299	49	22	1.7%
Nice Côte d’Azur (NCE)	7,225	88	31	1.6%
Larnaca (LCA)	3,604	22	36	1.6%
Cluj-Napoca (CLJ)	1,036	11	5	1.5%
Brussels (BRU)	8,062	67	56	1.5%
Bari (BRI)	2,522	22	15	1.5%
Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)	18,795	189	83	1.4%
Leeds Bradford (LBA)	1,610	7	16	1.4%
Malta (MLA)	3,191	19	26	1.4%
Bucharest Otopeni (OTP)	4,856	23	42	1.3%
Milan Bergamo (BGY)	4,520	16	42	1.3%
Tirana (TIA)	3,760	18	27	1.2%
Rome Ciampino (CIA)	1,009	4	8	1.2%
Chișinău (RMO)	2,289	12	15	1.2%
Wrocław (WRO)	1,652	4	15	1.2%
Alicante (ALC)	5,813	32	34	1.1%
Paris Orly (ORY)	8,487	58	35	1.1%
Lisbon (LIS)	9,063	59	39	1.1%
Málaga (AGP)	8,009	46	40	1.1%
Stockholm Arlanda (ARN)	8,328	73	16	1.1%
Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)	9,122	79	15	1.0%
Budapest (BUD)	5,863	28	31	1.0%
Copenhagen (CPH)	11,239	78	31	1.0%
Bratislava (BTS)	1,431	2	11	0.9%
Madrid Barajas (MAD)	17,519	71	74	0.8%
Kraków (KRK)	3,890	23	9	0.8%
Poznań Ławica (POZ)	1,196	1	8	0.8%
Athens (ATH)	12,300	41	42	0.7%
Copiapó Desierto de Atacama (CPO)	165	1	0	0.6%
Vienna (VIE)	9,650	29	28	0.6%
Warsaw Chopin (WAW)	8,081	18	21	0.5%
Katowice (KTW)	2,043	3	6	0.4%
Warsaw Modlin (WMI)	996	1	1	0.2%
Skopje (SKP)	1,054	2	0	0.2%

Most disrupted routes

Routes with at least 60 departures, by number of disrupted flights.

Most disrupted routes
Route	Departures	Cancelled	3h+ late	Rate
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Rome Fiumicino (FCO)	519	79	8	16.8%
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) → Catania Fontanarossa (CTA)	515	62	4	12.8%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Milan Malpensa (MXP)	282	36	4	14.2%
Milan Malpensa (MXP) → Catania Fontanarossa (CTA)	263	31	3	12.9%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Milan – Linate Airport (LIN)	161	32	0	19.9%
Nice Côte d’Azur (NCE) → BIA (BIA)	90	25	3	31.1%
Barcelona El Prat (BCN) → Palma De Mallorca Airport (PMI)	672	11	13	3.6%
Larnaca (LCA) → Tel Aviv – Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)	595	6	17	3.9%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Paris Orly (ORY)	65	20	0	30.8%
Barcelona El Prat (BCN) → London – Heathrow Airport (LHR)	259	15	4	7.3%
Paris Orly (ORY) → Barcelona El Prat (BCN)	291	9	10	6.5%
Athens (ATH) → Tel Aviv – Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)	420	2	16	4.3%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Venice Marco Polo (VCE)	108	17	1	16.7%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → London Gatwick (LGW)	78	17	0	21.8%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Naples (NAP)	105	17	0	16.2%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Turin International Airport (TRN)	112	15	2	15.2%
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) → Barcelona El Prat (BCN)	380	9	8	4.5%
Barcelona El Prat (BCN) → Rome Fiumicino (FCO)	379	11	5	4.2%
Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) → Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)	243	15	0	6.2%
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) → Bologna (BLQ)	113	14	1	13.3%

How we calculate this

We count every departure listed on the public departure boards of the 51 airports we monitor, once per flight number, UTC date and departure airport.
A flight counts as cancelled when either board marks it cancelled.
A flight counts as late when it reached its destination at least three hours behind schedule — the threshold for compensation under EU and UK Regulation 261/2004. Arrival delay comes from the destination airport board or a flight-status lookup. When neither is available, a departure delay of three hours or more is used instead: 502 flights this period.
The most recent day is held back until its flights have landed and the boards have settled.
The series starts on 4 September 2026, the first day all monitored airports were reporting.

Citing this report

Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Please cite: FlyClaim, “Flight disruptions in Europe: September 2026”, https://www.flyclaim.eu/flight-disruptions/report/2026-09.

All monthly reports

Questions about this report

What counts as a disrupted flight?

A departure that was cancelled, or that arrived at its destination three hours or more behind schedule. Those are the two situations in which EU and UK Regulation 261/2004 can entitle passengers to cash compensation.

Which airports are included?

The 51 European airports whose departure and arrival boards we monitor. Every departure from those airports is counted, whichever airline operates it.

Does a disrupted flight always mean compensation?

No. The airline does not have to pay when it proves extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather or air traffic control restrictions. Technical faults and crew shortages normally do not qualify.

How often is the report updated?

Daily. The current month is shown to date and becomes final once every day has settled.