The Department for Transport (DfT) added a methodology for measuring short-notice flight cancellations at UK airports on 9 September 2026. The publication explains how the department intends to calculate the indicator; it does not provide a new cancellation rate.
The analysis covers commercial passenger flights arriving at and departing from UK airports. Monthly cancellation figures will be assessed against 2025 baselines, providing a reference point for comparing future measures of disruption. Flights involving the Crown Dependencies are outside the scope of the analysis.
For each month, DfT defines the cancellation percentage as the number of flights marked as cancelled divided by all flights with a reported status. Cancelled flights are included in that total. The calculation therefore uses the complete set of relevant flights for which a status has been recorded, rather than treating only flights that operated as the denominator.
The data comes from on-time performance information obtained from Cirium Aviation Analytics. The methodology is based on commercial flight-status data and is not a collection submitted directly by airports or airlines. This sets out the data source and the population of flights used for the indicator, helping to clarify what future monthly figures would represent.
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DfT says the resulting data is held as management information. The publication is consequently focused on the department’s measurement approach and the interpretation of the indicator, rather than reporting a current level of cancellations or announcing a separate airport performance assessment.
The airport-cancellation methodology forms part of the wider faster-indicators guidance. That guidance was first published in January 2022 and now includes this approach alongside indicators covering areas such as electric-vehicle charging and vehicle registrations.
By documenting the 2025 comparison point, the flight coverage, the exclusion of Crown Dependencies services and the calculation method, DfT has established the basis for reading future monthly cancellation reporting. Any figures produced under the approach will need to be understood within those defined boundaries and the commercial flight-status data on which they rely.
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