EMA to ALC flight delays
Nottingham (EMA) Alicante (ALC)
1,482 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · UK Civil Aviation Authority
83.74%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
—
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
10 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Jet2 arrived on time 8.2 points more often than Ryanair over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In February it ran 20.9 points more punctual than in July — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
The two directions do not behave alike. ALC to EMA arrives on time 9.2 points less often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
Flights from Nottingham to Alicante keep to schedule more reliably than most. On a route this punctual the day you fly matters more than the airline you pick.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Jet2 arrived on time most often on EMA to ALC. Ryanair was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in November and worst in July.
Every airline on EMA to ALC
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 847 | 80.28% | 0% | — | B |
| Jet2 | 486 | 88.48% | 0% | — | A |
| TUI Airways | 149 | 87.92% | 0% | — | A |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
ALC to EMA Alicante back to Nottingham 74.56% on time COther routes from Nottingham
Common questions
Are flights from Nottingham to Alicante usually delayed?
83.74% of flights on the EMA to ALC route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Nottingham to Alicante?
Jet2, at 88.48% on time across 486 flights. The least punctual on the route was Ryanair at 80.28%.
How often are EMA to ALC flights cancelled?
0% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 1 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Nottingham to Alicante?
February, when 96.3% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 75.4%.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on EMA to ALC during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →