Vueling was Europe’s most reliable airline over the Christmas 2025 travel period, with a combined disruption rate of just 5.16%. SATA International ranked last at 13.45%. These scores take both delays of 60+ minutes and cancellations into account.
Christmas often equals chaos, and that’s as true for airports as it is for shopping centres. But by choosing the right airline, you can potentially minimise flight disruptions to make the process of visiting family smoother.
The Christmas period is also becoming busier for European aviation in general. Eurostat data shows that EU air passenger numbers increased by 6.7% year on year in December 2025. In fact, passenger numbers increased in every month of 2025 compared to the previous year.
AirAdvisor analysed 28 European airlines to find which performed best and worst during the festive travel season, and how reliability changed compared to the previous Christmas.
Key takeaways
- Vueling ranked first. The lowest-scoring airline, SATA International, had a combined disruption rate (13.45%) more than 2.6 times Vueling's (5.16%).
- Transavia France came second at 5.19%, despite having considerably more departure delays.
- Spanish airlines took three of the top four places. Air Europa was third and Iberia fourth.
- easyJet UK improved the most, but still had the second-highest disruption rate.
- KLM had the highest cancellation rate of the 28 airlines, at 3%.
- Only four of the 28 airlines improved their combined disruption rate compared to last year.
Most and least reliable European airlines at Christmas time (full data)
Using data from 15 Dec 2025 to 5 Jan 2026, our combined disruption rate includes flights arriving at least 60 minutes late plus cancellations. Departure delays are shown separately.
Rank | Airline | Departure 60+ min | Arrival 60+ min | Cancelled | Combined disruption |
1 | Vueling Airlines | 4.89% | 4.34% | 0.82% | 5.16% |
2 | Transavia France | 10.70% | 5.06% | 0.13% | 5.19% |
3 | Air Europa | 5.42% | 4.50% | 0.99% | 5.49% |
4 | Iberia Airlines | 5.81% | 5.31% | 0.72% | 6.03% |
5 | ITA Airways | 6.56% | 5.70% | 0.46% | 6.16% |
6 | Turkish Airlines | 7.79% | 4.97% | 1.85% | 6.82% |
7 | Swiss International Air Lines | 6.61% | 6.06% | 0.88% | 6.94% |
8 | Finnair | 6.85% | 6.93% | 0.83% | 7.76% |
9 | Aegean Airlines | 6.64% | 6.80% | 0.98% | 7.78% |
10 | TAP Portugal | 8.30% | 7.38% | 0.90% | 8.28% |
11 | Air Serbia | 8.81% | 7.76% | 0.57% | 8.33% |
12 | Lufthansa | 8.39% | 7.57% | 0.83% | 8.40% |
13 | Austrian Airlines | 8.96% | 7.83% | 0.84% | 8.67% |
14 | Ryanair | 9.22% | 8.59% | 0.13% | 8.72% |
15 | British Airways | 8.24% | 7.92% | 0.94% | 8.86% |
16 | Wizz Air Malta | 9.58% | 8.15% | 0.76% | 8.91% |
17 | Eurowings | 11.47% | 9.08% | 0.05% | 9.13% |
18 | Air France | 7.67% | 7.17% | 2.13% | 9.30% |
19 | Brussels Airlines | 9.43% | 8.29% | 1.03% | 9.32% |
20 | LOT Polish Airlines | 11.92% | 8.77% | 0.96% | 9.73% |
21 | Scandinavian Airlines | 7.33% | 7.15% | 2.67% | 9.82% |
22 | airBaltic | 8.19% | 8.33% | 1.77% | 10.10% |
23 | KLM | 8.20% | 7.69% | 3.00% | 10.69% |
24 | Aer Lingus | 10.06% | 9.32% | 2.19% | 11.51% |
25 | Wizz Air | 11.66% | 10.70% | 0.90% | 11.60% |
26 | Virgin Atlantic | 11.12% | 10.01% | 2.13% | 12.14% |
27 | easyJet UK | 11.12% | 10.56% | 2.06% | 12.62% |
28 | SATA International | 14.47% | 13.32% | 0.13% | 13.45% |
The top 5 European airlines for Christmas travel: what we learned
Spanish airlines dominate the Christmas reliability ranking
Spain accounts for three of Europe's four most reliable operators in our Christmas study. It’s only Transavia France that prevents a clean sweep.
Vueling takes the top spot with just 4.34% of flights arriving at least 60 minutes late and 0.82% cancelled. Together, that gives it the lowest combined disruption rate in the study at 5.16%.
Air Europa ranks third at 5.49%, while Iberia is fourth at 6.03%.
Transavia France shows why departure delays don't tell the whole story
Transavia France comes within just 0.03 percentage points of taking first place, but its departure figures look very different from Vueling's.
In the 2025–2026 Christmas period, 10.70% of its flights departed at least 60 minutes late, compared with 4.89% for Vueling. Yet only 5.06% of Transavia France’s flights arrived at least an hour late.
The Transavia France cancellation rate was also just 0.13%, the lowest among the top 10 airlines.
The difference shows why we use arrival delays rather than departure delays in the final ranking. For passengers, the time they actually reach their destination will matter more than the time the aircraft leaves the gate.
ITA Airways completes the top five
ITA Airways ranks fifth overall with a combined disruption rate of 6.16%. Its cancellation rate was particularly low at 0.46%, while 5.70% of flights arrived at least an hour late.
Departure delays were slightly more common, affecting 6.56% of flights. Overall, though, ITA Airways' figures were relatively consistent across the different measures.
Least reliable airlines in Europe over Christmas 2025
The 10 worst-scoring airlines in the study are those in positions 19 to 28 in the full data table above.
SATA International has the highest Christmas disruption rate
SATA International, operating under the Azores Airlines brand, ranks the worst overall with a 13.45% combined disruption rate.
SATA International's cancellation rate was only 0.13%, the same as our second-most reliable airline, Transavia France.
But its last-place rank is ultimately because SATA had the highest rate of long arrival delays in the entire study. From 15 Dec 2025 to 5 Jan 2026, 13.32% of flights arrived at least 60 minutes late.
UK-based airlines are among the worst performers
Of the three worst-ranking airlines, two of them are based in the UK: easyJet UK and Virgin Atlantic.
easyJet UK ranks second-worst with a combined disruption rate of 12.62%, while Virgin Atlantic follows at 12.14%.
Both also had cancellation rates above 2%. easyJet UK cancelled 2.06% of recorded flights, and Virgin Atlantic cancelled 2.13%.
KLM had the highest cancellation rate in the study
KLM stands out because the Dutch carrier cancelled 3% of its flights, the highest rate among all 28 airlines included in our study.
That's more than 23 times SATA International's 0.13% cancellation rate, despite SATA finishing below KLM overall.
The distinction between a long delay and cancellation for Christmas travellers is important. It’s the difference between being a little late for dinner and scrambling to find a replacement flight that could leave many hours later.
Christmas 2024 vs. 2025: only four airlines became more reliable
For most of the 28 airlines in our study, there was no improvement, but four have lower combined disruption rates compared to the 2024 Christmas period.
Airline | Christmas 2024 | Christmas 2025 | Change |
easyJet UK | 15.23% | 12.62% | -2.61 pp |
Finnair | 9.03% | 7.76% | -1.27 pp |
Ryanair | 9.86% | 8.72% | -1.14 pp |
British Airways | 9.28% | 8.86% | -0.42 pp |
easyJet UK improved the most, but still ranks second-worst
easyJet UK’s disruption rate dropped from 15.23% to 12.62%, an improvement of 2.61 percentage points and the biggest reduction among all 28 airlines.
However, 12.62% wasn’t enough to move up from 27th place in the Christmas 2025 ranking.
Finnair made the second-biggest improvement, falling from 9.03% to 7.76% and landing securely within the top 10 airlines for Christmas travel in position eight.
Ryanair and British Airways were the only other airlines to improve.
SATA and Virgin Atlantic recorded the biggest reliability drops
At the opposite end, some airlines recorded large increases in disruption.
Airline | Christmas 2024 | Christmas 2025 | Change |
SATA International | 5.78% | 13.45% | +7.67 pp |
Virgin Atlantic | 5.70% | 12.14% | +6.44 pp |
LOT Polish Airlines | 3.82% | 9.73% | +5.91 pp |
Wizz Air | 6.19% | 11.60% | +5.41 pp |
Wizz Air Malta | 4.29% | 8.91% | +4.62 pp |
SATA International saw the biggest change, with its combined disruption rate increasing by 7.67 percentage points.
Virgin Atlantic deteriorated by 6.44 points, while LOT Polish Airlines increased by 5.91 points.
Wizz Air and Wizz Air Malta also saw increases of more than four percentage points.
Change in reliability for all airlines from Christmas 2024 to 2025
The graph below shows how each airline’s reliability numbers compare between the two years. Negative numbers are an improvement (lowered disruption rate), and positive ones are a decline (higher disruption rate).
Which airline should you choose for Christmas travel in 2026?
Based purely on our Christmas 2025 reliability data, Vueling is the strongest overall choice, closely followed by Transavia France and Air Europa. But the individual metrics can matter depending on what you most want to avoid.
- Lowest overall disruption: Vueling, 5.16%.
- Lowest cancellation rate among the top 10: Transavia France, 0.13%.
- Best-performing UK airline: British Airways, 8.86%.
- Highest cancellation risk in the study: KLM, 3%.
- Highest long-arrival-delay rate: SATA International, 13.32%.
Our methodology: how we ranked Europe's Christmas airlines
AirAdvisor compared 28 European airline operators across two Christmas travel periods:
- Christmas 2024: 15 December 2024 to 5 January 2025
- Christmas 2025: 15 December 2025 to 5 January 2026
To qualify, an airline needed at least 5,000 recorded flights in each period and matching airline codes across both datasets.
We analysed three indicators from AirAdvisor’s proprietary AirData, where lower disruption rates mean an airline scores higher in the ranking:
- Flights departing 60 minutes or more behind schedule
- Flights arriving 60 minutes or more behind schedule
- Cancelled flights
The final combined disruption rate is the arrival delay rate plus the cancellation rate only.
We don't add departure delays to the final score because a flight that departs and arrives more than an hour late could otherwise be counted twice.
The analysis assesses individual airline operating codes rather than consolidated airline groups. Year-on-year differences are expressed in percentage points.
The ranking reflects historical performance during the periods studied. It doesn't necessarily predict how an airline will perform during Christmas 2026. Flight coverage, schedules, and operating conditions can change considerably from one Christmas to another.
What if your Christmas flight is delayed or cancelled?
If your Christmas journey goes wrong, flights covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU261), or by its UK equivalent, UK261, can entitle you to compensation.
If your flight arrives 3+ hours late (CJEU, Sturgeon, C-402/07) or is cancelled less than 14 days before departure (Article 5), Article 7 sets compensation at €250, €400, or €600 depending on distance (£220/£350/£520 under UK261).
Eligibility will depend on your flight route, distance, and the disruption reason. Compensation generally isn't payable when qualifying extraordinary circumstances outside the airline's control caused the disruption.
Check your flight to see if you could be entitled to compensation of up to €600Check Your Flight
What the airline must give you while you wait: meals, hotel, and transport
Compensation and an airline's duty of care are separate. Depending on how long you're delayed, the airline may have to provide the following based on Article 9:
- Meals and refreshments
- Hotel accommodation when an overnight stay becomes necessary
- Transport between the airport and hotel
Important: Keep your boarding pass, booking confirmation, and communications from the airline. You should also retain receipts for reasonable expenses you have to pay yourself during the disruption.
If your Christmas flight is delayed or cancelled, AirAdvisor can help you check whether you're eligible for compensation and help you make a claim.
