A study by AirHelp has analysed delays at airports across Spain and Europe to reveal the worst offenders for 2025.
AirHelp, which helps passengers get compensation, found that cross Europe as a whole, more than 935 million passengers travelled through airports in 2025 – a 2.6% drop on the previous year.
Of these, 25.69% suffered delays or cancellations, while almost 11 million were eligible to claim compensation.
According to AirHelp’s ranking, 76% of European flights operated on time last year. Even so, more than 34 million passengers were affected by delays or cancellations.
Malaga’s punctuality rate stood at 71.5%, placing it 19th in the national ranking – below the Spanish average and behind several smaller regional airports.
The report notes that air traffic in Spain remained broadly stable compared with 2024, with just 1,500 fewer flights recorded nationwide. Encouragingly, overall punctuality at Spanish airports improved by 1.3%.
This improvement is reflected in compensation figures: the number of passengers eligible for compensation in Spain has steadily fallen since 2022 – from 1.39 million to 1.25 million in 2025.
Spain also remains the EU country with the highest passenger volume, second only to the UK across Europe.
Best and worst-performing airports
In Spain, Asturias Airport stood out for punctuality, with 89% of flights on time, despite handling around 840,000 passengers.
Among larger airports:
- Bilbao Airport was again one of the most punctual, with an 85.7% punctuality rate
- Madrid-Barajas Airport recorded a 77.1% punctuality rate
- Barcelona-El Prat Airport followed closely at 76.9%
At the other end of the scale, Palma de Mallorca Airport posted the worst figures among Spain’s major airports, with only 66% of flights arriving on time – impacting more than five million passengers.
Reus (69.2%), Murcia (71.5%) and Malaga (71.5%) also ranked poorly.
Europe: the punctuality divide
At European level, Norway, Sweden and Estonia led the punctuality rankings, each with disruption rates below 18%. In contrast, Portugal (35.6%), Greece (33.2%) and France (29.6%) recorded the worst results.
AirHelp also warned that summer remains the most problematic period for air travel. July, August and September – and increasingly October – consistently see the highest volumes of passengers and the most disruptions.
In Spain, July 3 was the worst day of the year for flight interruptions, after a French air traffic controllers’ strike triggered the cancellation of nearly 100 flights affecting Spanish airports.
