# Manchester Airport flight delays: £220–£520 under UK261 Source: https://airtravelrights.com/airports/manchester/ > UK261 compensation comes from the operating airline, not Manchester Airport. CAA 2025: 59.2% of its 194,144 matched flights ran on time. # Manchester Airport: flight delay and cancellation rights ## Which rules cover delayed flights departing Manchester Airport? UK261 applies to every flight that leaves Manchester Airport, on any airline: article 3(1)(a) covers "passengers departing from an airport located in the United Kingdom". The airline operating your flight owes compensation, care and re-routing. Manchester Airport delay compensation always comes from that airline, never the airport. A single booking counts from its first leg (article 3(1A)): a trip begun abroad that only connects here is not a Manchester departure. If a Community (EU-licensed) carrier flies you from Manchester into the EU, EU261 covers that flight in euros. The exception is when you already received benefits or compensation and assistance in the UK. On a UK air carrier EU261 does not apply. easyJet, Ryanair and TUI hold both licence types, so check the operator named on your booking. Departing from Manchester Airport: - [UK261: your rights on UK flights](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/) - [UK261 flight delay compensation: amounts and claims](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/flight-delay-compensation/) - [What to do when the airline refuses compensation](https://airtravelrights.com/airline-refused-compensation/) - [Other airports](https://airtravelrights.com/airports/) For flight details, use the airport's own site, listed in Google UK results on 14 September 2026 as "[Welcome to Manchester Airport (MAN) | Official Website](https://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/)". Source: UK261 art. 3(1)(a), 3(1A) - legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1)(b), 3(5) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15. ## How much compensation is due for a delayed flight from Manchester Airport? £220, £350 or £520 per passenger, by distance, is due when a flight from Manchester reaches your final destination 3 hours or more late, under UK261 articles 6(3) and 7(1). Nothing is due if extraordinary circumstances caused the delay and all reasonable measures could not have avoided them. Arrival is when passengers are permitted to exit the aircraft (article 2(n)). 2 hours 59 minutes late earns no compensation. Beyond 3,500 km, the CAA lists £260 for arriving between three and four hours late and £520 for more than four. Article 7(2) says "may": that cut is the airline's option. Euro figures are the usual slip on airport claim pages: €250, €400 and €600 labelled "EU legislation" for UK departures. For a flight out of Manchester the UK261 scale is in pounds, written into article 7(1) by SI 2019/278 from 31 December 2020; euros apply only where EU261 also reaches the flight, as set out above. Converting euros into pounds gives no legal amount. Cancellation pay depends on notice. With two weeks or more, none is owed. With two weeks to seven days, none if the airline offered re-routing leaving no more than 2 hours before and arriving less than 4 hours after your scheduled times. With less than seven days: no more than 1 hour before and less than 2 hours after. The airline must prove when it told you. Outside those windows it is due, unless unavoidable extraordinary circumstances caused the cancellation. Even then, care and your choice of refund or re-routing stay owed. Keep the cancellation message. Source: UK261 art. 2(n), 5, 6(3), 7 (7(1) as substituted by SI 2019/278), 9 - legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 7(1) - eur-lex.europa.eu; CAA, Delays - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-15. ## How punctual were flights at Manchester Airport in 2025? Manchester Airport's 194,144 matched flights in calendar year 2025 averaged 19.8 minutes of delay, the CAA's annual statistics show. 59.2% ran on time by the CAA's definition. Separately, the CAA logged 1.0% of flights as cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. The figures combine scheduled and chartered flights at the airport. That on-time figure adds two CAA bands: 27.1% of flights ran 15 minutes early to 1 minute early and 32.1% ran 0 to 15 minutes late. Against Heathrow, [Gatwick](https://airtravelrights.com/airports/gatwick/), Stansted, Birmingham and Edinburgh in the same file, Manchester had the lowest on-time share and the longest average delay, while Heathrow led on both at 66.3% and 12.8 minutes. Widen that to all 25 airports the file covers and Manchester's 19.8 minutes is still the longest average delay of any of them, while [Liverpool](https://airtravelrights.com/airports/liverpool/) holds the highest on-time share in the file, 73.5%, on an average delay of 11.1 minutes. Punctuality statistics are not compensation eligibility, and a CAA delay band is not a legal threshold. UK261 looks only at your own flight's arrival delay at its final destination, timed from when you are allowed off the aircraft. Claim Manchester Airport [delay compensation](https://airtravelrights.com/uk261/flight-delay-compensation/) on your own flight's times, never on an airport average. Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/24022/3d82eddc-84f7-4692-bc12-a9ab96562d04/1712), checked 2026-09-15. ## Where do you complain about an airline after a disrupted Manchester Airport flight? Write to the operating airline first. After 8 weeks with no response, or a final response that turns you down, you can take a UK261 dispute to the airline's CAA-approved ADR scheme, AviationADR or CEDR. ADR is free. Apply within 12 months of the final response or last written communication. If your flight was operated by [easyJet](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/easyjet/), [Ryanair](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/ryanair/) or [TUI Airways](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/tui-airways/), the CAA list names AviationADR, which covers its members' flights involving a UK airport. [British Airways](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/british-airways/) uses CEDR. [Jet2](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/jet2/) and [Loganair](https://airtravelrights.com/airlines/loganair/) are not listed on the CAA ADR list, the AviationADR members list or the CEDR subscriber list. For an airline outside approved ADR bodies, the CAA's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) may help. It can take up a valid complaint but cannot impose a solution. It will not handle one with less than a year left to take legal action. If you sue in England and Wales, the limit is 6 years (Limitation Act 1980 s.9, applied by article 3(9)). Northern Ireland also gives 6 years. Scotland is an open point, set out on the [time limits page](https://airtravelrights.com/flight-compensation-time-limits/). Send your complaint today. Source: CAA ADR and PACT pages - caa.co.uk; aviationadr.org.uk; cedr-assist.com; legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15. ## Do the rules change for flights arriving at Manchester Airport? From another UK airport, any airline's flight into Manchester is a UK261 departure. From abroad, article 3(1)(b)(i) applies only "if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Community carrier or a UK air carrier", unless you received benefits or compensation and assistance there. If your flight from abroad was operated by Jet2 or British Airways, both UK air carriers, UK261 covers the arrival. An airline that is neither a UK nor a Community carrier gets no UK261 cover inbound. A flight from an EU airport into Manchester is an EU261 departure on any airline (article 3(1)(a)). Its compensation is paid in euros. On a UK or Community carrier both regimes reach it. UK261 then falls away once you have received benefits or compensation and assistance in the EU country you left. Name the operating airline in your claim. Not your situation? - [EU261: flights under EU law](https://airtravelrights.com/eu261/) - [Canada: Air Passenger Protection Regulations](https://airtravelrights.com/canada-appr/) - Flying in the US? US federal rules differ → [US DOT rules](https://airtravelrights.com/us-dot/) - [Which law covers my flight?](https://airtravelrights.com/which-law-covers-my-flight/) Source: UK261 art. 2(c), 2(m), 3(1)(b) - legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1)(a) - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15. General information, not legal advice. For your specific case: CAA / Citizens Advice / a solicitor. ## Sources - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, arts. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 - [legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/contents), checked 2026-09-15. - The Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1370) - [legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1370/made), checked 2026-09-15. - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 2 and 3 - [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261), checked 2026-09-15. - Limitation Act 1980, s.9 - [legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58/section/9), checked 2026-09-15. - Civil Aviation Authority, Delays - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/flight-delays-and-cancellations/delays/), checked 2026-09-15. - Civil Aviation Authority, Alternative dispute resolution - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/travel-complaints/alternative-dispute-resolution/), checked 2026-09-15. - Civil Aviation Authority, How the CAA can help - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/travel-complaints/how-the-caa-can-help/), checked 2026-09-15. - AviationADR, airline and airport members - [aviationadr.org.uk](https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/complaints-process/airline-and-airport-members-aviationadr/), checked 2026-09-15. - CEDR, Aviation - [cedr-assist.com](https://www.cedr-assist.com/consumer/aviation/overview/), checked 2026-09-15. - Civil Aviation Authority, airline licence holders - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/commercial-industry/airlines/licensing/licence-types/airline-licence-holders/), checked 2026-09-15. - UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 Annual Punctuality Statistics Summary Analysis - [caa.co.uk](https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/24022/3d82eddc-84f7-4692-bc12-a9ab96562d04/1712), checked 2026-09-15.