Paris Orly delays on Thursday, 16 January 2020
Eurocontrol logged 1,959 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Paris Orly that day across 46 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 260 (18% of the day's arrivals), with 62% of the delay attributed to weather. That makes it the 74th worst day at Paris Orly since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · LFPO · 2020-01-16
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 100% 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
| London Heathrow | 1,229 min | Weather |
| Vienna | 519 min | Weather |
| Paris Le Bourget | 505 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
| Dublin | 467 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| London City | 412 min | Weather |
| Madrid Barajas | 190 min | ATC capacity |
| Paris Charles de Gaulle | 159 min | Weather |
| Gran Canaria | 158 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Bordeaux Mérignac | 132 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
Other bad days at Paris Orly
| 22 October 2019 | 13,961 min | Weather |
| 11 February 2023 | 11,267 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
| 19 December 2019 | 9,315 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
| 6 June 2023 | 9,044 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
| 25 May 2024 | 8,631 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
| 22 January 2019 | 7,507 min | Weather |
| 29 August 2025 | 6,504 min | Weather |
| 26 May 2024 | 6,188 min | Industrial action (ATC) |
Questions
My flight from Paris Orly on 16 January 2020 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 100% of Paris Orly's air-traffic delay to weather and industrial action (atc), 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 Paris Orly disruption on 16 January 2020 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 62% of the 1,959 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show fog, lowest visibility 193 m and strongest gust none reported kt.
Does a bad day at Paris Orly 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 Paris Orly.
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 Paris Orly delay days.