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Qantas claimed the title of most reliable major airline in June 2024, though Rex says its domestic jet operations eclipsed the Flying Kangaroo for on-time performance.
On-time performance across all major airlines is still lagging behind long-term averages, with 76.8 per cent of flights arriving on time in June, 77.8 per cent departing on time, and 2.5 per cent cancelled, compared to averages of 80.9 per cent, 82.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.
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Qantas and QantasLink flights that arrived on time were at 78.5 per cent, and 79.6 per cent departed on time, with 3.3 per cent cancelled. Jetstar saw 73.6 per cent on-time arrivals, 72 per cent on-time departures and 2.2 per cent cancellations.
This puts Qantas above Virgin Australia in on-time arrivals and departures at 74.8 per cent and 76.6 per cent respectively, though Virgin beat Qantas on cancellations at 1.9 per cent.
While Qantas also beat Rex overall for on-time arrivals and departures (75.9 per cent and 78.2 per cent respectively), Rex had the lowest cancellations at 1.1 per cent.
Additionally, Rex’s domestic jet operations in isolation led the field overall at 82 per cent on-time arrivals, 84.1 per cent on-time departures, and 0.9 per cent cancellations.
Qantas says 2024 was its highest June result since 2021.
“We know how important punctuality is to customer satisfaction and we are continuing to get customers to their destination on time more often,” a spokesperson said.
Virgin Australia said weather was the main contributing factor for delays and cancellations during the month, and that June 2024’s on-time departures were up nine per cent and completion rate up 2.4 per cent on the same month last year.
Danny Norman, Virgin’s general manager integrated operations centre, said he was pleased to see operational performance “settling near or above pre-COVID levels”.
“For the fifth month in a row, Virgin Australia recorded a lower cancellation rate than its major competitor at under two per cent in June,” Norman said.
“There were some weather-related challenges which affected all airlines, including storms in Sydney on 6 and 14 June which impacted one in every seven flights across the Virgin Australia network on those days.”
Rex has been contacted for comment.
