Airline On Time Performance, 2012 Calendar Year Report
Summary 2012 Calendar Year
For the year ended December 2012, on time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines (Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Regional Express, Skywest Airlines, Tiger Airways, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia—ATR/F100 Operations) averaged 81.7 per cent for on time departures and 79.5 per cent for on time arrivals. Cancellations for 2012 represented 1.5 per cent of all scheduled flights. The equivalent figures for 2011 were 80.8 per cent for departures, 79.1 per cent for arrivals and 1.8 per cent for cancellations.
The long term average performance for all routes since reporting commenced in November 2003 is 83.8 per cent for on time departures and 82.4 per cent for on time arrivals. Cancellations averaged 1.3 per cent of all scheduled flights.
On time performance tracked around 87 per cent for the period before June 2007. There was then a noticeable decrease to 79 per cent for the period from June 2007 to December 2008. For the period January 2009 to June 2010, on time performance rose back up to 85 per cent but has dropped back down to 80 per cent for the period July 2010 to December 2012.
Of the major domestic airlines, Qantas achieved the highest level of on time departures for 2012 at 85.9 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia at 83.3 per cent, Tiger Airways at 82.8 per cent and Jetstar at 76.1 per cent. The regional airlines were led by Regional Express at 85.1 per cent, Virgin Australia—ATR/F100 Operations at 83.3 per cent, Skywest at 78.0 per cent and QantasLink at 76.7 per cent.
Qantas also achieved the highest on time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 84.0 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia at 80.5 per cent, Tiger Airways at 80.1 per cent and Jetstar at 76.6 per cent. Regional Express was the best performing regional airline for on time arrivals at 82.8 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia—ATR/F100 Operations at 78.8 per cent, Skywest at 75.6 per cent and QantasLink at 73.7 per cent.
QantasLink had the highest percentage of cancellations for 2012 at 2.4 per cent, while Skywest had the lowest percentage at 0.1 per cent.
Of the 54 routes which met the criteria for on time performance reporting for all twelve months in 2012, the Adelaide-Gold Coast route had the highest percentage of on time departures (91.5 per cent) and the highest percentage of on time arrivals (91.7 per cent). The Sunshine Coast-Melbourne route had the lowest percentage of on time departures (62.3 per cent) and the Ballina-Sydney route had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (63.5 per cent).
Cancellations were highest on the Canberra-Sydney route at 4.7 per cent, followed by Sydney Canberra at 4.0 per cent, Karratha-Perth at 3.4 per cent, Sydney-Melbourne and Melbourne-Sydney at 3.3 per cent and Gladstone-Brisbane at 3.0 per cent.
Of the airports with on time performance reporting for all twelve months in 2012, Mildura Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time departures (89.8 per cent) and Ballina Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time departures (70.0 per cent). Port Lincoln Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (88.4 percent) and Port Macquarie Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (70.2 per cent). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.
| Sectors | Departures On Time | Arrivals On Time | Cancellations | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled | Flown | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| Jetstar | 74743 | 73805 | 56174 | 76.1 | 56522 | 76.6 | 938 | 1.3 |
| Qantas | 124478 | 122880 | 105543 | 85.9 | 103159 | 84.0 | 1598 | 1.3 |
| QantasLink | 111281 | 108590 | 83271 | 76.7 | 80081 | 73.7 | 2691 | 2.4 |
| Regional Express | 64811 | 64375 | 54808 | 85.1 | 53309 | 82.8 | 436 | 0.7 |
| Skywest | 10187 | 10173 | 7937 | 78.0 | 7694 | 75.6 | 14 | 0.1 |
| Tiger Airways | 14334 | 14196 | 11750 | 82.8 | 11370 | 80.1 | 138 | 1.0 |
| Virgin Australia | 136363 | 134315 | 111920 | 83.3 | 108098 | 80.5 | 2048 | 1.5 |
| Virgin Australia - ATR/F100 Operations | 15581 | 15348 | 12789 | 83.3 | 12090 | 78.8 | 233 | 1.5 |
| All Airlines | 551778 | 543682 | 444192 | 81.7 | 432323 | 79.5 | 8096 | 1.5 |
Figure 1. Total Industry Arrivals and Departures On Time by month from December 2007
