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Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) has achieved a 100 per cent completion rate for the month of March 2025, according to the latest BITRE data.
Virgin’s regional arm, which primarily operates in Western Australia, did not cancel any of its 194 flights last month, compared to 5.5 per cent cancellations for Virgin mainline services and 5.4 per cent for the group as a whole in a month heavily impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
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VARA also beat every other participating airline except Skytrans for on-time arrivals, at 88.1 per cent to Skytrans’ 90.1 per cent.
Across all participating airlines, 80.2 per cent of flights arrived on time and 80.7 per cent arrived on time, with five per cent of flights cancelled; all three metrics were worse than long-term averages of 80.7 per cent on-time arrivals, 81.8 per cent long-time departures, and 2.2 per cent cancellations.
Virgin, which as a group once again beat Qantas Group on both on-time departures and on-time arrivals for the month of March 2025, notes that VARA has seen a steady improvement in its completion rate since September last year.
“Virgin Australia continues to lead the way in Australian aviation, proudly maintaining our position as Australia’s most punctual major airline for the fourth consecutive month. In March, 81.8 per cent of our flights departed on time, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to reliability,” said Virgin Australia general manager, integrated operations centre, Danny Norman.
“As Australia’s most punctual major carrier operating the largest domestic flight schedule with an average of 395 daily flights in March, we’re continuing to build on this momentum.
“We remain dedicated to enhancing every aspect of our operation to provide an exceptional travel experience for all our guests who choose Virgin Australia.”
Qantas noted that its domestic operations, including QantasLink, have seen more than 80 per cent of flights depart on time for the past several months, with around 80 per cent of Jetstar flights also arriving and departing on time in March.
“We’re really proud of the work our people have put in to improve reliability and maintain strong performance across our operations,” a spokesperson said.
On-time arrivals (per cent)
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 81.2
- Qantas and QantasLink – 79.8
- Skytrans – 90.1
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 88.1
- Hinterland – 86.5
- Virgin Australia – 81.0
- Jetstar – 80.9
- Qantas – 80.8
- QantasLink – 79.1
- Rex – 74.2
On-time departures (per cent)
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 81.8
- Qantas and QantasLink – 80.1
- Hinterland – 90.4
- Skytrans – 90.1
- Virgin Australia – 81.8
- Qantas – 81.1
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 80.9
- QantasLink – 79.4
- Jetstar – 79.1
- Rex – 77.4
Cancellations (per cent)
- Qantas and QantasLink – 5.2
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 5.4
- QantasLink – 5.5
- Virgin Australia – 5.5
- Skytrans – 5.1
- Jetstar – 5.1
- Qantas – 4.7
- Hinterland – 3.7
- Rex – 3.5
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 0.0
