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Summary—March 2020

For March 2020, on time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines (Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Regional Express, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 84.2 per cent for on time arrivals and 85.4 per cent for on time departures. Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the highest cancellation rate (17.3 per cent) recorded since OTP reporting commenced in November 2003. Reporting airlines cancelled nearly 7,500 flights during the month. The equivalent figures for March 2019 were 78.4 per cent for on time arrivals, 80.0 per cent for on time departures and 2.2 per cent for cancellations.

This month’s on time arrivals figure was higher than the long term average performance for all routes (82.1 per cent) and the on time departures figure was also higher than the long term average (83.5 per cent). The rate of cancellations was significantly higher than the long term average of 1.6 per cent.

The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 86.1 per cent for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 82.8 per cent. Qantas achieved the highest on time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 86.1 per cent followed by Virgin Australia at 83.0 per cent and Jetstar at 80.6 per cent. Of the regional airlines, QantasLink recorded 86.1 per cent for on time arrivals, followed by Regional Express at 84.3 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 79.9 per cent.

The Qantas network recorded 87.0 per cent for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 85.1 per cent. Qantas achieved the highest level of on time departures among the major domestic airlines for March 2020 at 87.5 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia at 85.3 per cent and Jetstar at 78.5 per cent. Of the regional airlines, Regional Express recorded 87.2 per cent for on time departures, followed by QantasLink at 86.6 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 82.6 per cent.

Jetstar recorded the highest percentage of cancellations (at 26.8 per cent) during the month, followed by Virgin Australia (at 23.6 per cent), Regional Express (at 14.6 per cent), Qantas (at 12.9 per cent), QantasLink (at 10.1 per cent) and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (at 7.9 per cent).

Airlines’ on time performance varies across the routes they serve. Individual route data by specific airline for 62 routes are shown on pages 10-22.

Of the 62 routes which met the criteria for on time performance reporting in March 2020, the Adelaide-Port Lincoln route had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (95.6 per cent) and the Karratha-Perth route had the highest percentage of on time departures (95.9 per cent). The Sunshine Coast-Sydney route had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (69.1 per cent) and the Sunshine Coast-Sydney and Sunshine Coast-Melbourne routes had the lowest percentage of on time departures (69.8 per cent). 

Cancellations were highest on the Melbourne-Sydney route at 29.4 per cent, followed by the Sydney-Melbourne route at 29.2 per cent, the Launceston-Sydney route at 26.7 per cent, the Newcastle-Melbourne route at 26.6 per cent and the Sydney-Launceston route at 25.9 per cent.

Port Lincoln Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (95.6 per cent) and Karratha Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time departures (95.9 per cent). Armidale Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (76.4 per cent) and Sunshine Coast Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time departures (69.8 per cent). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.
 

Table 1: Total Industry On Time Performance for March 2020

Figure 1: Total Industry On Time Performance by month from March 2017