Which Airlines Had the Worst Delays in 2025? New Report Reveals 161 Years of Waiting.

A new analysis has named the world's most delayed airlines for 2025. Ryanair topped the global ranking for late flights. The data comes from the Flighty Global Passport Report. Flighty, a flight-tracking app, analyzed over 22 million journeys globally. The report highlights a major challenge in commercial aviation news: persistent delays.

Global Airline Punctuality Ranking

The report found that 29 percent of the Irish low-cost carrier’s services were delayed. This placed Ryanair at the top of the list. easyJet and Air France tied for second and third place. Both also recorded a 29 percent delay rate. However, Ryanair’s larger passenger volume meant more total hours of disruption.

Top 10 Most Delayed Airlines (Percentage of Flights Delayed):

• Ryanair (29%)
• easyJet (29%)
• Air France (29%)
• Frontier Airlines (28%)
• Lufthansa (26%)
• Qantas (26%)
• KLM (25%)
• Air Canada (25%)
• JetBlue Airways (25%)
• Southwest Airlines (25%)

Other major US carriers also struggled with airline punctuality ranking. American Airlines saw 24 percent of its flights delayed. Alaska Airlines reported a 23 percent delay rate.

The Hidden Cost of Post-Landing Delays

Flighty introduced a new metric focusing on post-landing delays. This measures the time between scheduled arrival and when passengers actually deplane. This metric captures time spent in holding patterns or waiting for a gate. Taxiway congestion and crew issues also contribute to this problem.

The report claimed that three out of ten flights experienced this extended delay. This affected approximately six million flights in 2025. The total collective waiting time was 1.4 million hours. This is equivalent to an astounding 161 years of lost passenger time. Flighty stated this captures minutes spent “sitting, waiting, and muttering, ‘Get me off this plane’”. This highlights a growing issue in air travel congestion management.

Financial Impact and Industry Challenges

Flight delays have a severe financial impact on the industry. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Eurocontrol, air traffic control issues are costly. The input context reported that air traffic control delays alone cost passengers and airlines in Europe about $6.8 billion between late 2024 and October 2025. This figure underscores the need for modernization.

Broader data from IATA and Eurocontrol shows the scale of the problem. ANSP-controllable delays cost the industry EUR 16.1 billion from 2015 to October 2025. Over 70% of these costs stem from air traffic control capacity and staffing shortages. French and German air navigation service providers accounted for over half of all delays. This concentration indicates that targeted investment is critical. The industry must prioritize infrastructure and staffing to reduce these massive costs. The failure to implement the Single European Sky is often cited as a key factor.