London City Airport: flight delay and cancellation rights
London City Airport matched 47,493 flights in the CAA’s 2025 file, with an average delay of 11.9 minutes. UK261 compensation for a delay — £220 to £520 a passenger once arrival runs three hours or more late — is owed by the operating airline, never the airport. London City itself is a short-haul business airport with a steep landing approach and a strict night curfew.
London City Airport matched 47,493 flights in the 
CAA’s 2025 file, with an average delay of 11.9 minutes. UK261 compensation for a delay — 
#Which rules cover delayed flights departing London City Airport?
London City departures sit inside UK261 regardless of who operates them: article 3(1)(a)'s test is simply “passengers departing from an airport located in the United Kingdom”, and article 3(5) makes the operating airline, not the airport, the one who owes.
United Kingdom”, and article 3(5) makes the operating airline, not the airport, the one who owes.A flight arriving from outside the UK works differently. Article 3(1)(b)(i) covers one only if the operator holds a UK licence, such as BA CityFlyer, or an EU licence, such as KLM. Once you have already had benefits or compensation and assistance in the country you left, this inbound cover no longer reaches you, and an airline holding neither licence gives none at all. A single booking is judged from its opening leg, wherever that was, so passing through London City on a trip that began overseas is not, on its own, a London City departure.
EU licence, such as 
KLM. Once you have already had benefits or compensation and assistance in the country you left, this inbound cover no longer reaches you, and an airline holding neither licence gives none at all. A single booking is judged from its opening leg, wherever that was, so passing through That opening-leg rule is why a London City passenger sometimes claims under a regime this airport never features in. A connection here on a trip that began elsewhere is governed by the rules covering the airport it started from: EU261 for an EU origin, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations for a Canadian one, and for a US origin the federal rules that require no compensation for a domestic delay. The which-law test places a booking that crosses two of them. Where the trip does open at London City, UK261 applies along its whole length, the distance bands fix the amount, and a refusal has a defined next step. How London City compares with London Southend and the other London airports is on the index.
Canadian one, and for a 
US origin the federal rules that Source: UK261 art. 3(1)(a), 3(1)(b), 3(1A), 3(5) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1)(a) — eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
#How much is due for a delayed flight from London City Airport?
A London City flight landing three hours or more late triggers UK261’s fixed scale — £220, £350 or £520 per passenger depending on distance — under articles 6(3) and 7(1). Extraordinary circumstances the airline truly could not dodge are the sole exception; everything else leaves the payment standing.
Arrival, under article 2(n), is the moment the doors open and passengers may step off — 2 hours 59 minutes short of three hours pays nothing, 3 hours 0 minutes pays the full amount. Article 7(2) gives, but does not force, the airline the option to halve that top figure to £260 on a route past 3,500 km where the arrival delay sits between three and four hours, with £520 restored beyond four.
How much warning the airline gave, not the route length, governs cancellation compensation. Fourteen days or more and there is nothing to claim. Give seven to fourteen days, and the airline owes nothing provided the replacement departs no more than 2 hours early and arrives under 4 hours late; drop below seven days and that tolerance tightens to 1 hour early and 2 hours late. Proving the date the warning was sent is the airline’s burden, not the passenger’s.
Source: UK261 art. 2(n), 5(1)(c), 5(4), 6(3)-(4), 7(1)-(2) — legislation.gov.uk; CAA, Delays — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
#How often do flights at London City Airport actually run late?
47,493 flights at London City Airport were matched in the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s 2025 punctuality statistics. 69.2% ran within the CAA’s two “on time” bands, 15 minutes early to 15 minutes late, and the average delay was 11.9 minutes; 1.54% of flights were cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.
Broken down, 32.0% of flights landed 15 minutes early to 1 minute early. A further 37.2% landed 0 to 15 minutes late, the largest share in that band of the 25 airports the file covers; only Newcastle, at 36.2%, also clears 36%. Runway and gate timing drives both bands, a different clock from the cabin-door moment that UK261 relies on. The underlying file also leaves out all-cargo, oil-rig, air-taxi, positioning, private and military flights entirely. The CAA states plainly that it gives no accuracy guarantee and takes no liability for anyone leaning on these numbers.
Across 475,582 flights, ten times London City’s traffic, Heathrow’s own 2025 average was 12.8 minutes — longer than London City’s 11.9. None of that decides a claim: only your own flight’s doors-open time counts.
Heathrow’s own 2025 average was 12.8 minutes — longer than Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis — caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.
#Where do you complain after a disrupted London City Airport flight?
If 8 weeks pass with no reply to your written complaint, a London City Airport dispute can go to ADR. The CAA backs two schemes for this, AviationADR and CEDR, both free, and the operating airline’s own membership decides which one you use.
AviationADR and 
CEDR, both free, and the operating airline’s own membership decides which one you use.A London City Airport dispute starts with a written complaint to the airline, never the CAA directly. BA CityFlyer’s disputes go to CEDR under the CAA’s list, and once you accept a CEDR decision, it is the airline — not CEDR — that must comply within 20 working days unless the decision itself says otherwise. Jet2 and Loganair sit on none of the three CAA-recognised lists, leaving the CAA’s own Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) as the fallback, though it cannot impose a solution.
Jet2 and 
Loganair sit on none of the three CAA-recognised lists, leaving the ADR must be reached within 12 months of the airline’s final response or its last letter, and most cases resolve within three months once you accept. England and Wales courts allow considerably longer — 6 years, under the Limitation Act 1980 s.9 as UK261 article 3(9) applies it — but Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own rules instead; the time limits page covers both. Get your complaint in writing now and hold onto a copy (Bumped flight compensation).
England and 
Wales courts allow considerably longer — 6 years, under the Limitation Act 1980 s.9 as UK261 article 3(9) applies it — but 
Scotland and Source: CAA, Alternative dispute resolution and How the CAA can help — caa.co.uk; CEDR, Aviation overview — cedr-assist.com; Limitation Act 1980 s.9 — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
General information, not legal advice. For your specific case: the CAA, Citizens Advice or a solicitor.
Citizens Advice or a solicitor.#Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- The Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1370) - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art. 3 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Limitation Act 1980, s.9 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative dispute resolution - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Civil Aviation Authority, How the CAA can help - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- CEDR, Aviation - cedr-assist.com, checked 2026-09-15.
- UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-18.