HEL to LHR flight delays
Helsinki (Vantaa) (HEL) London (LHR)
1,206 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · UK Civil Aviation Authority
72.99%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
9.12%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
—
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
9 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 9.12% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
The season swings this route hard. In April it ran 35.1 points more punctual than in January — 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 route has been getting better. The later months in the record run 10.7 points more punctual than the earlier ones, which usually means a schedule that was too tight has been given more room.
Only Finnair flies this route in the published record, so there is no choice to weigh — the route's figures and the airline's are the same figures.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, Finnair arrived on time most often on HEL to LHR. Flights ran closest to schedule in April and worst in January.
Every airline on HEL to LHR
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finnair | 1,206 | 72.99% | 9.12% | — | F |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
LHR to HEL London back to Helsinki (Vantaa) 71.44% on time FOther routes from Helsinki (Vantaa)
Common questions
Are flights from Helsinki (Vantaa) to London usually delayed?
72.99% of flights on the HEL to LHR route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airlines fly from Helsinki (Vantaa) to London?
Only Finnair appears in the published record on this route, with 1,206 flights and 72.99% arriving on time.
How often are HEL to LHR flights cancelled?
9.12% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 91 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Helsinki (Vantaa) to London?
April, when 86% of flights arrived on time. The worst was January at 50.9%.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on HEL to LHR during January 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 →