Heamar's recent analysis indicates that Exeter Airport led the UK in flight cancellations during the first half of 2026. With a rate of 5.27%, the Devon hub outpaced both Southampton and London City in terms of service disruptions.
The 5.27% cancellation rate at Exeter Airport
Exeter Airport currently holds the unenviable title of the UK's most unreliable hub regarding flight completions. According to Heamar's analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data,the Devon-based airport saw a cancellation rate of 5.27% between January and June 2026. This equates to approximately one cancelled flight for every 19 scheduled movements.
The disparity between Exeter and other regional hubs is stark. For instance, Prestwick Airport maintained a cancellation rate of just 0.18%, meaning passengers at Exeter face a risk nearly 29 times higher than those flying out of Prestwick. other major players also outperformed the Devon hub, with Southampton Airport at 4.43% and London City Airport at 2.44%.
An 18.6% surge in UK-wide flight disruptions
Flight cancellations across the United Kingdom are trending upward despite relatively stable flight volumes. The Heamar report indicates that in the first six months of 2026, 12,373 flights were cancelled across 25 major airports, a jump of nearly 2,000 compared to the same period in 2025.
This volatility is particularly concerning because the volume of flight movements increased by only 0.8% year-on-year.. However, the actual number of cancellations spiked by 18.6%. this suggests that the aviation industry is facing systemic pressures—ranging from technical issues to air traffic congestion—that are outpacing the growth in total air travel.
Weather-dependent routes to the Isles of Scilly and Channel Islands
Exeter Airport attributes its high canceellation statistics to the specific nature of its flight paths.. A spokesperson for Exeter Airport noted that the majority of these disruptions involve services to offshore locations, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands.
These specific routes are highly susceptible to adverse weather conditions like fog, low cloud, and high winds.. The airport maintains that these cancellations occur even when conditions at the Exeter terminal itself are favorable, arguing that the data reflects environmental challenges rather than operational failures. This creates a unique profile for the airport, which was recently praised in a Which? study for its 83% customer satisfaction score.
The gap between an 83% Which? score and 5.27% cancellations
The data raises questions about how consumer sentiment is measured when reliability is so inconsistent. While Exeter was recently named Britain's best airport by Which?, the Heamar findings suggest a significant gap between the "customer experience" and the "reliability experience." For comparison, Manchester T3 was recently labeled the nation's worst airport by Which?, earning a mere 52% customer score due to issues like long queues and walking distances.
Several questions remain unanswered by the current reporting. It is unclear to what extent airlines—rather than the airports themselves—are responsible for the scheduling of these vulnerable offshore routes. Furthermore, while Exeter cites weather as the primary culprit, it remains unverified if there are underlying operational inefficiencies contributing to the 5.27% figure. Finally,as the report mentions Southampton Airport's struggles with technical issues, the industry has yet to clarify if Exeter's weather-based explanation is the sole driver of its ranking.
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