Passengers flying from Newcastle are less likely to face lengthy delays than those jetting off from any other major UK airport, according to new figures.

The BBC England data unit analysed statistics released by the Civil Aviation Authority for the 14 months to March this year. The average delay from Newcastle Airport was just 11 minutes per flight, compared to 13 minutes at Heathrow and 18 minutes at Gatwick, which has the longest average delay.

The figures will come as a boost for Newcastle, which recently expressed disappointment as United Airlines confirmed its services to New York/Newark will end next month after two years in operation.

Gatwick chiefs said they regret all delays but insisted that many were due to circumstances that were outside of their influence, such as industrial action by foreign air traffic controllers.

The most delayed scheduled flight in the country is the Pakistan International Airlines service from Manchester to New York’s JFK Airport, with an average waiting time of just under an hour and a half. Passengers would almost have time to watch two halves of a football match in the time they are left waiting on the runway or the departure lounge.

More than half of all flights on the route were between half and hour and an hour late setting off during the month of March.

Although that flight is responsible for a total of 190 hours of delays in the period analysed, a Manchester Airport spokesman pointed out that no other flights from the airport were affected by the route’s poor record.

Three airlines take up nine out of ten places between them in the top ten most delayed flights list. Pakistan International Airlines features four times, followed by Jet2 with three appearances and Turkmenistan with two.

Under EU law, passengers are entitled to compensation of up to £517 if they suffer lengthy delays in certain conditions.