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Summary—December 2019

For December 2019, on time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines (Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Regional Express, Tigerair Australia, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 73.4 per cent for on time arrivals and 74.4 per cent for on time departures. Cancellations represented 2.5 per cent of all scheduled flights. This month’s on time performance figures are some of the worst recorded and were probably impacted by smoke haze from bushfires. The equivalent figures for December 2018 were 75.3 per cent for on time arrivals, 76.2 per cent for on time departures and 2.9 per cent for cancellations.

This month’s on time arrivals figure was lower than the long term average performance for all routes (82.2 per cent) and the on time departures figure was also lower than the long term average (83.5 per cent). The rate of cancellations was higher than the long term average of 1.5 per cent.

Virgin Australia achieved the highest on time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 73.9 per cent followed by Qantas at 70.8 per cent, Tigerair Australia at 69.3 per cent and Jetstar at 64.7 per cent. Of the regional airlines, Regional Express recorded 80.0 per cent for on time arrivals, followed by QantasLink at 78.7 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 78.0 per cent. The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 75.0 per cent for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 74.1 per cent.

Virgin Australia also achieved the highest level of on time departures among the major domestic airlines for December 2019 at 76.2 per cent, followed by Tigerair Australia at 71.9 per cent, Qantas at 71.3 per cent and Jetstar at 62.8 per cent. Of the regional airlines, Regional Express recorded 84.3 per cent for on time departures, followed by Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 79.8 per cent and QantasLink at 78.7 per cent. The Qantas network recorded 75.3 per cent for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 76.4 per cent.

Jetstar recorded the highest percentage of cancellations (7.1 per cent) during the month, followed by Tigerair Australia (2.7 per cent), Qantas (2.4 per cent), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (2.2 per cent), QantasLink (1.4 per cent), Virgin Australia (1.2 per cent) and Regional Express (1.0 per cent).

Airlines’ on time performance varies across the routes they serve. Individual route data by specific airline for 64 routes are shown on pages 10-23.

Of the 64 routes which met the criteria for on time performance reporting in December 2019, the Sydney-Ayers Rock route had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (94.8 per cent) and the Perth-Darwin route had the highest percentage of on time departures (96.8 per cent). The Armidale-Sydney route had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (50.3 per cent) and the Sydney-Launceston route had the lowest percentage of on time departures (48.6 per cent). 

Cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Melbourne route at 6.9 per cent, followed by the Melbourne-Sydney route at 6.6 per cent, the Armidale-Sydney route at 5.8 per cent, the Gold Coast-Sydney route at 5.0 per cent and the Brisbane-Sydney route at 4.7 per cent.

Ayers Rock Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (94.8 per cent) and Kalgoorlie Airport had the highest percentage of on time departures (89.8 per cent). Armidale Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (63.1 per cent) and Gold Coast Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time departures (58.3 per cent). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.

Figure 1: Total Industry On Time Performance by month from December 2016