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More than half of flights run late on Australia’s least punctual routes

You’ve just spent a week in Tropical North Queensland. You’re relaxed; if you’re lucky, a little tanned and not burned. And then your flights home are pushed back. Maybe it’s a ploy, to have you stay longer in or around one of Australia’s most popular holiday spots (that’d be nice). More likely it’s just an operational issue (boo-hoo). It’s a good thing you’re still in holiday mode.

You’ve just spent a week in Tropical North Queensland. You’re relaxed; if you’re lucky, a little tanned and not burned. And then your flights home are pushed back. Maybe it’s a ploy, to have you stay longer in or around one of Australia’s most popular holiday spots (that’d be nice). More likely it’s just an operational issue (boo-hoo). It’s a good thing you’re still in holiday mode.

The Cairns-Melbourne route had the lowest percentage of on-time departures across Australia, with new data showing just 40.4% of flights left Cairns for Melbourne on time in October. That’s equal to just two in five punctual flights.

According to Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (BITRE) data, Hamilton Island-Sydney had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals among Aussie routes, at 46.9% (so less than half of all flights).

Delayed Flights airports
A lot of travellers experienced late-running flights last month.

Meanwhile, flight cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Armidale route at 10.2%, followed by Melbourne-Sydney at 10.2%, Armidale-Sydney at 10% and Sydney-Melbourne at 9.9%.

When it comes to top performers, the Townsville-Cairns route had the highest percentage of on-time arrivals (92.4%) and departures (92.4%) in October. 

Port Lincoln Airport recorded the highest percentage of on-time arrivals (90.5%) and departures (90.5%). In comparison, Mildura Airport had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals (60.1%) and Hamilton Island Airport had the lowest percentage of on-time departures (56.3%).

Flights by individual airlines

The on-time performance (OTP) across routes operated by Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex, Virgin Australia and VA Regional Airlines in October averaged 71.1% for both on-time arrivals and on-time departures. 

On-time arrivals fell around 10% below the long-term average (81.2%) while on-time departures were also more than 10% lower than the long-term average (82.3%). 

The cancellation rate for the month was 3.8%, which was slightly higher than October 2022 figures but significantly higher than the long-term average of 2.2%.

Qantas Virgin

Breaking down the performance by carriers, Virgin Australia led in on-time arrivals at 68.6%, followed by Jetstar at 68% and Qantas at 66.6%. 

Among regional carriers, QantasLink led with 77.2% on-time arrivals, followed by VA Regional Airlines at 73.9%, Rex Airlines at 73.5% and Skytrans at 70.7%.

Virgin Australia had the highest on-time departures among major domestic airlines at 68.9%, followed by Jetstar at 66.4% and Qantas at 65.1%. 

Qantas had the highest percentage of cancellations at 4.3%, followed by Jetstar and Virgin Australia at 4.1%, QantasLink at 3.6%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 3.2%, Rex Airlines at 2.3% and Skytrans at 1.8%.

A Qantas spokesperson told AFR the airline was “focused on making sure we deliver on the experience our customers expect.

“Severe weather caused more delays and cancellations in October, with weather impacting flights on all but six days for the month,” they said.

Between April and August, Australian domestic airlines produced their worst on-time performance on record, despite airfares spiking 56% in the same quarter.