The Hungarian carrier took the top spot for the second year in a row, after its UK departures were an average of 46 minutes and six seconds behind schedule last year. 

The BBC, quoting recent analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency, reported Wizz’s average departure time in 2022 was more than three times longer than 2021.

Tui ranked second with an average delay of 40 minutes and 18 seconds and Qatar Airways third with 31 minutes and 48 seconds.

In response, a spokesperson for Wizz Air said: "We do everything possible to ensure that passengers reach their destination on time and with minimal delay.

"We invest heavily into time performance, which is key to our ultra-efficient business model. A number of issues affecting the global aviation industry contributed to a worse time performance in 2022." 

The carrier said the issues resulted from a "widespread shortage" in staff, in particular within air traffic control, ground operations and baggage handling, security and across airports.
 
"We are committed to constantly reviewing and refining our processes to mitigate these issues and we have been seeing an overall improvement in the on-time performance of our routes and are confident our passengers are seeing this too," the carrier added.

The duration of Wizz UK flight delays, the airline said, have reduced by more than 40% on 2022 levels this year, to 26 minutes on average.