An increased number of flights arrived on time in the UK in the second quarter, the CAA said.
In the April to June period, 82% of flights were punctual compared with 78% for the same quarter last year.
The average delay was 11 minutes, also an improvement on the 14 minutes for the 2010 second quarter.
Flights which depart or arrive early or within 15 minutes of their scheduled time are regarded as punctual.
The UK aviation authority said there was “significant” improvement in punctuality at Gatwick, Stansted and Luton Airports of, respectively, 10%, 8% and 7%.
The smallest increase in performance was at Heathrow and London City which both showed a 1% in improvement in punctuality. Both airports are heavily used by business travellers.
Average delays fell by six minutes at Gatwick, and by five minutes at Stansted and Luton, whereas Heathrow’s average delay fell by just one minute and London City was flat year on year.
During the Q2, the CAA monitored 348,000 scheduled flights and 24,000 charter flights at ten airports.
This was a rise of 10% in scheduled flights and 1% in charter flights compared to last year when aviation was badly hit by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud.
Iain Osborne, CAA’s director for regulatory policy, said: “The growth we’re now seeing in flight numbers is a welcome trend, as it means more people getting to where they want to go.
“The last 18 months have seen unprecedented disruption and we are pleased to see the sector recovering from this.
“It is also pleasing that growth has not been at the expense of punctuality, and we hope to see collaborative work by the industry continue to reduce delays.”