C

LHR to MAN flight delays

London (LHR) Manchester (MAN)

6,764 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · UK Civil Aviation Authority

75.53%

Arrived on time

Within 15 minutes of schedule

0.8%

Cancelled

Share of scheduled flights

When late, late by

Average across delayed arrivals

11 min

Delay per flight

Averaged over every flight flown

What the record says about this route

The season swings this route hard. In February it ran 29 points more punctual than in September — 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.

Only British Airways 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.

This is one of the heavily flown routes in the record — 6,764 flights in the period. Frequency is itself a form of insurance: when a flight goes wrong there is another one within hours, which is not true of the thin routes elsewhere on this site.

Flights from London to Manchester run late more often than the average route, though not severely.

Which airline should you fly on this route?

Over March 2025 – August 2026, British Airways arrived on time most often on LHR to MAN. Flights ran closest to schedule in November and worst in September.

Every airline on LHR to MAN

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
British Airways 6,761 75.55% 0.8% C
Virgin Atlantic 2 0% 0%
Aer Lingus 1 100% 0%

Month by month

Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.

Jan 2025 peak 88 Jun 2026
On-time arrival rate, %

What these figures do and do not tell you

Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on LHR to MAN 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 →