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Qantas maintained its grip over Virgin Australia as the most reliable airline group in Australia for on-time performance – though the smaller airline is cancelling significantly fewer flights.
The latest BITRE data released from the Department of Transport for November also reveals the industry as a whole still lagged behind long-term averages for delays as post-COVID-19 problems continue.
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Meanwhile, regional carrier Skytrans continued to show up its larger rivals, with the airline averaging 98 per cent for on-time arrivals and departures.
On-time arrivals (average as per cent)
- Qantas and QantasLink – 68.0
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 62.7
- Skytrans – 97.7
- Hinterland – 90.9
- QantasLink – 73.1
- Rex Airlines – 72.6
- Jetstar – 68.0
- VARA – 66.7
- Virgin Australia – 62.6
- Qantas – 60.3
On-time departures (average as per cent)
- Qantas and QantasLink – 68.2
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 64.0
- Skytrans – 97.7
- Hinterland – 93.0
- Rex Airlines – 76.2
- QantasLink – 73.3
- Jetstar – 66.2
- Virgin Australia – 64.1
- VARA – 61.1
- Qantas – 60.4
Cancellations (average as per cent)
- QantasLink – 3.6
- Qantas – 3.1
- Hinterland – 2.8
- Rex Airlines – 2.5
- Jetstar –2.4
- Virgin Australia – 1.7
- VARA – 1.3
- Skytrans – 1.3
“For November 2024, on-time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines – Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines– averaged 68.4 per cent for on-time arrivals and 69.0 per cent for on-time departures,” the report reads.
“The cancellation rate for the month was 2.6 per cent. The equivalent figures for November 2023 were 64.1 per cent for on-time arrivals, 65.9 per cent for on-time departures and 3.7 per cent for cancellations.
“This month’s on-time arrivals figure was lower than the long-term average performance for all routes (80.7 per cent), and the on-time departures figure was also lower than the long-term average (81.9 per cent). The rate of cancellations was higher than the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.”
