Manchester delays on Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Eurocontrol logged 818 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Manchester that day across 19 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 234 (8% of the day's arrivals), with 73% of the delay attributed to weather. That makes it the 103rd worst day at Manchester since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · EGCC · 2025-12-16
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 73% of this day's delay sits in categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary circumstances.
Were you on a flight that day?
What this means if your flight was late
Under UK261 and EU261 you are owed £220, £350 or £520 (or €250, €400, €600) per passenger for arriving three hours or more late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Airport-wide records like this one are the airline's favourite evidence, and they cut both ways.
- Expect the airline to cite weather. That is a real argument on this day, but it only covers delay actually caused by it. The airline must show the link to your flight and that it had reserve time and spare aircraft in place (Eglītis v Air Baltic). A flight that left late because the inbound aircraft was stuck on a technical fault is compensable whatever the weather did.
- Cancelled that day? Compensation depends on notice: under 14 days and no close re-routing means it is due, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances test. You are always owed a refund or re-routing and care while you wait.
- Delayed under three hours? No fixed compensation, but food, drink and communications were owed after two hours on a short flight, and reasonable expenses are recoverable.
The free check pulls your flight's own record (actual arrival time against schedule) and pairs it with this day's data, so the verdict and the letter are specific to your flight, not to the airport.
Other airports the same day
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 1,316 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen | 1,282 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Lisbon | 1,208 min | Weather |
| London Heathrow | 914 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International | 684 min | ATC capacity |
| Warszawa Chopina | 501 min | Weather |
| Krakow Balice | 177 min | Weather |
| Marseille Provence | 155 min | Special event |
| Geneva | 108 min | ATC capacity |
Other bad days at Manchester
| 27 December 2024 | 12,423 min | Weather |
| 7 January 2025 | 9,609 min | Weather |
| 15 December 2025 | 8,802 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| 28 December 2024 | 6,065 min | Weather |
| 12 October 2025 | 5,546 min | Weather |
| 26 December 2024 | 4,335 min | Weather |
| 9 January 2025 | 4,157 min | Weather |
| 20 February 2026 | 4,155 min | Aerodrome capacity |
Questions
My flight from Manchester on 16 December 2025 was delayed. Can I claim compensation?
If you arrived at your final destination 3 hours or more late, the starting position is £220 to £520 per passenger depending on distance. The airline can refuse only by proving extraordinary circumstances that affected your specific flight. On this day Eurocontrol attributed 73% of Manchester's air-traffic delay to weather, so expect that argument; it still has to be linked to your flight. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Manchester disruption on 16 December 2025 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 73% of the 818 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show fog, lowest visibility 2897 m and strongest gust none reported kt.
Does a bad day at Manchester mean every delayed flight is exempt from compensation?
No. Air-traffic delay attributed to an airport explains some of the day's lateness, not all of it, and it is the airline that must prove your flight's delay was caused by it and could not have been avoided with reasonable measures such as schedule buffers and spare aircraft. Flights delayed by a technical fault, crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft from an unaffected airport are compensable regardless of what happened at Manchester.
Sources: Eurocontrol Performance Review Unit, airport arrival ATFM delay by cause (daily); METAR observations via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive. This page describes the airport's day; your flight's own record decides your claim. All Manchester delay days.