15  Operational cancellation rate

15.1 EUROCONTROL recommended values

Below is presented the rate of IFR flight cancellations in Europe.

Figure 15.1: Operational cancellation rate in Europe

Source: EUROCONTROL data. Detailed data are available upon request

Reports about all causes of delay (and cancellation up 2019) are available in the EUROCONTROL library.

Note

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic strongly influenced the entire aviation industry with more than double cancellation rate then in 2019.

15.2 Description

According to Annex IV of Commission Implementing Regulation EU No 390/2013, [1] an ‘operational cancellation’ means an arrival or departure of a scheduled flight to which the following conditions apply:

• the flight received an airport slot; and

• the flight was confirmed by the air carrier the day before operations and/or it featured in the daily list of flight schedules produced by the airport operator the day before of operations; but

• the actual landing or take-off did not occur.

15.3 References

[1]

European Commission, “Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 390/2013 of 3 May 2013 laying down a performance scheme for air navigation services and network functions Text with EEA relevance.” 2013 [Online]. Available: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013R0390#:~:text=Commission%20Implementing%20Regulation%20%28EU%29%20No%20390%2F2013%20of%203,services%20and%20network%20functions%20Text%20with%20EEA%20relevance.