--- title: "Flight disruption statistics, September 2026" url: https://flightcompensations.com/data/2026-09 dataset: https://flightcompensations.com/data/2026-09.json month: 2026-09 published: 2026-10-02 publisher: FlightCompensations license: "Free to quote and reuse with attribution to FlightCompensations and a link to the release URL." summary: "One closed month of first-party observation, frozen: 12,522 qualifying disruptions across 858,793 flights, and what the law says they are worth." --- # Flight disruption statistics, September 2026 In September 2026 we observed 858,793 passenger flights through 160 monitored airports. 12,522 of them (1.5%) reached the compensation threshold: a verified arrival three hours or more late, or a cancellation. Together they carry an estimated statutory ceiling of €792.2M. These flight disruption statistics come from our own monitoring and are frozen: they will not change after publication. ## September 2026 in numbers The flight delay statistics and the cancellation statistics are counted separately, because the law treats them differently. A delay qualifies from three hours at arrival; a cancellation qualifies on the day the airline files it, and the notice it gave is checked later, claim by claim. - Flights observed: 858,793, through 160 monitored airports. - Qualifying disruptions: 12,522 (1.5% of flights observed). - Cancellations: 9,799. - Arrivals three hours or more late: 2,723. - Estimated statutory ceiling: €792.2M. ## Airline delay rates, September 2026 Carriers ranked by the share of their observed flights that qualified. A carrier needs 20 observed flights to appear. The page shows the top 12; the [JSON release](/data/2026-09.json) carries every ranked carrier. | Carrier | Flights | Qualifying | Cancelled | Rate | Est. exposure | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | | U8 (U8) | 358 | 51 | 0 | 14.2% | €2.7M | | VR (VR) | 34 | 4 | 4 | 11.8% | €402,000 | | LP (LP) | 29 | 3 | 2 | 10.3% | €522,000 | | RC (RC) | 187 | 19 | 13 | 10.2% | €908,000 | | UD (UD) | 51 | 5 | 5 | 9.8% | €380,000 | | BZ (BZ) | 822 | 80 | 1 | 9.7% | €4.5M | | AP (AP) | 99 | 6 | 4 | 6.1% | €487,000 | | IZ (IZ) | 896 | 54 | 3 | 6.0% | €4.1M | | BM (BM) | 53 | 3 | 3 | 5.7% | €228,000 | | CE (CE) | 148 | 8 | 8 | 5.4% | €340,000 | | A2 (A2) | 523 | 28 | 20 | 5.3% | €1.4M | | HH (HH) | 22 | 1 | 1 | 4.5% | €174,000 | ## Departure airports, September 2026 The same ranking by airport of departure. A high rate at a hub can reflect one bad week of weather as easily as a bad airline, so read it beside the [live radar](/radar). | Departure airport | Flights | Qualifying | Cancelled | Rate | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | | Catania (CTA) | 3,284 | 568 | 559 | 17.3% | | Dalaman (DLM) | 172 | 8 | 6 | 4.7% | | London City (LCY) | 1,206 | 51 | 49 | 4.2% | | Madeira (FNC) | 948 | 39 | 35 | 4.1% | | Santiago de Compostela (SCQ) | 1,085 | 43 | 24 | 4.0% | | Brussels Charleroi (CRL) | 1,417 | 49 | 45 | 3.5% | | Paphos (PFO) | 757 | 21 | 11 | 2.8% | | Barcelona El Prat (BCN) | 41,675 | 1,106 | 848 | 2.6% | | Aberdeen (ABZ) | 683 | 18 | 17 | 2.6% | | London Heathrow (LHR) | 74,634 | 1,892 | 1,606 | 2.5% | | Corfu (CFU) | 1,521 | 38 | 16 | 2.5% | | Bodrum Milas (BJV) | 240 | 6 | 5 | 2.5% | ## Compensation at stake by law Each qualifying flight is priced under the law that applies to its route. The figure is a ceiling, not a bill. - EU261 (Regulation 261/2004): 9,344 qualifying flights, €536.5M at stake. - UK261: 2,864 qualifying flights, €211.7M at stake. - Canada APPR: 229 qualifying flights, €37.9M at stake. - Israel Aviation Services Law: 85 qualifying flights, €6.1M at stake. ## How to read these flight disruption statistics Passenger flights that departed from or arrived at a monitored airport inside a passenger-rights territory (EU/EEA, UK, Switzerland and the other European states on the panel). Cargo and private flights are excluded. The panel is a sample of the network, so every figure is a floor on what happened, never an estimate of the whole market. A flight qualifies when its verified arrival was 180 minutes or more late, or the airline cancelled it: the thresholds at which compensation under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 and its UK, Israeli and Canadian counterparts can arise. Qualifying does not mean owed: the airline may still show extraordinary circumstances. The bands come from [Regulation (EC) No 261/2004](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/261/oj); our [EU261 guide](/passenger-rights/eu261) explains them in plain language. Estimated compensation is a statutory ceiling: each qualifying flight's legal band (EU261/UK261 distance bands, Canada's APPR delay tiers, Israel's Aviation Services Law) multiplied by typical seats for the route distance, assuming every seat is occupied and eligible. It is the most the law could put on the airline for that flight, before individual eligibility. Flights whose route cannot be resolved count as qualifying but contribute no exposure. The [compensation calculator](/flight-delay-compensation-calculator) prices a single flight the same way. ## Why do these numbers differ from the live data page? The [live data page](/data) recomputes on every visit and includes flights the engine is still verifying. This release counts one closed calendar month, after its flights finalised, and was written once. Quote the release when you need a figure that will still be true next year; use the live page for what is happening this week. ## Cite this release Quote any figure freely. Attribute it to FlightCompensations, link to https://flightcompensations.com/data/2026-09, and name the month. The same data is available as [JSON](/data/2026-09.json) and [Markdown](/data/2026-09.md) at stable URLs. If your own flight was among the disrupted ones, the [flight check](/claim) reads that one record instead of the aggregate. ## Frequently asked questions ### Where does the September 2026 flight disruption data come from? From our own monitoring of scheduled and actual flight times at 160 airports, not from a regulator's release. We record what happened to every passenger flight through the panel and count the ones that reached a compensation threshold. The panel is a sample, so the totals are a floor on the month, never a market estimate. ### Will the September 2026 figures change later? No. The month was aggregated after it closed and its flights had finalised, and the result was written once. The live data page keeps moving; this release does not, which is what makes it safe to quote in an article or a report that outlives the news cycle. ### Can I quote these statistics in an article or a report? Yes, free of charge. Name FlightCompensations as the source, link to this release, and state the month beside the figure. For a cut we do not publish, such as one route or one airline over several months, write to press@flightcompensations.com and we will run it from the same records. ## Sources - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/261/oj Read the full page at https://flightcompensations.com/data/2026-09