LONDON, 21 March 2019: A new survey reveals that well over a third of travellers have had to pay more to make alternative travel plans following a delayed flight.
Compiled by Cirium, an aviation data and analytics consultancy, the survey estimated flight delays and cancellations cost airlines over USD30 billion a year
Over a third of global travellers (36%) say they don’t get enough information about delayed and cancelled flights.
Almost two thirds (61%) of those surveyed said they would prefer to use an app, which alerted their friends, family or company about their delay.
In 2018, approximately 3.9 million flights – or 10,700 a day – were delayed by over 30 minutes or cancelled globally, affecting more than 470 million passenger journeys around the world.
Airline flight delays and cancellations are caused by a wide range of factors, such as technical issues with aircraft, bad weather, air traffic control problems, strikes, medical diversions and congested airports, among many others.
The global YouGov study conducted for Cirium in the UK, US, UAE and China, showed more than a third of travellers worldwide (35%) who had experienced a delayed or cancelled flight, did not find it easy to change their travel plans, with well over a third (40%) left out of pocket after being forced to pay more to make alternative travel plans.
Airlines also had to bear the massive cost of disruption with flight delays and cancellations costing the equivalent of USD7 for every departing passenger – slightly less than the airline’s net profit per person per departing flight.
Cirium president and CEO, Christopher Flook said: “Flight delays and cancellations are an unfortunate aspect of modern air travel and can have a big impact on travellers, whether flying for business or leisure.
“While our survey reveals well over a third of passengers still have to pay more for alternative travel plans, airlines can proactively issue flight alerts ahead of travel and re-allocate tickets without fees to take the sting out of flight disruption.”
“We all want to travel stress-free and get people to where they want to go, which is why at Cirium we work closely with airlines around the world on initiatives which reduce the impact of disrupted flights.”
The survey revealed nearly two thirds (57%) of those polled only found out about their flight delay or cancellation once they had reached the airport.
When asked 29% said they would prefer to be informed about a delay through a text alert with another two thirds (61%) saying they would use an app which alerted their friends, family or company about their delay.
More than double (48%) said they would be most frustrated if their leisure flight was delayed or cancelled compared to the 21% who would be most frustrated if a business flight was cancelled.
Over a third of global travellers would be most sympathetic if a flight was disrupted due to bad weather (35%) followed by technical issues with their aircraft (30%). However, only a tiny 5% would be most sympathetic with delays or cancellations due to problems caused by air traffic control.
YouGov Plc surveyed a sample of 2,904 adults in the UK, 1,302 in the US, 1,004 in China and 1,006 in the Middle East. Fieldwork was undertaken between 18 February and 18 March. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been given an even weighting for each country to produce an ‘average’ value.
Cirium analyses more than 70 million passenger journeys annually to provide insights for the airline industry.
The group has significantly grown in recent years with the acquisition of leading data intelligence companies, including Ascend, Innovata, Diio and FlightStats.
