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Summary—December 2022

For December 2022, on time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines (Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 71.1 per cent for on time arrivals and 70.8 per cent for on time departures. The cancellation rate for the month was 3.4 per cent. The equivalent figures for December 2021 were 84.2 per cent for on time arrivals, 83.2 per cent for on time departures and 7.6 per cent for cancellations.

This month’s on time arrivals figure was significantly lower than the long term average performance for all routes (81.6 per cent) and the on time departures figure was also significantly lower than the long term average (82.8 per cent). The rate of cancellations was higher than the long term average of 2.1 per cent.

The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 76.2 per cent for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 67.4 per cent. Qantas achieved the highest on time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 73.0 per cent followed by Virgin Australia at 67.3 per cent and Jetstar at 62.0 per cent. Of the regional airlines, QantasLink recorded 78.4 per cent for on time arrivals, followed by Rex Airlines at 73.2 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 69.9 per cent.

The Qantas network recorded 75.3 per cent for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 67.5 per cent. Qantas achieved the highest level of on time departures among the major domestic airlines for December 2022 at 71.9 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia at 67.5 per cent and Jetstar at 60.4 per cent. Of the regional airlines, QantasLink recorded 77.6 per cent for on time departures, followed by Rex Airlines at 75.6 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 68.1 per cent.

Jetstar recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 7.2 per cent during the month, followed by Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 5.0 per cent, Virgin Australia at 3.4 per cent, Qantas at 2.9 per cent, QantasLink at 2.5 per cent, and Rex Airlines at 0.7 per cent.

Airlines’ on time performance varies across the routes they serve. Individual route data by specific airline for 60 routes are shown on pages 9-21.

Of the 60 routes which met the criteria for on time performance reporting in December 2022, the Adelaide-Canberra route had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (90.2 per cent) and the highest percentage of on time departures (89.2 per cent). The Darwin-Perth route had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (50.0 per cent) and the lowest percentage of on time departures (also 46.2 per cent). 

Cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Melbourne route at 9.3 per cent followed by the Melbourne-Sydney route at 9.1 per cent, the Sunshine Coast-Sydney route at 8.1 per cent, the Sydney-Canberra route at 7.1 per cent and the Canberra-Sydney route at 6.8 per cent.

Armidale Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (86.9 per cent) and Mount Isa Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time departures (85.7 per cent). Mildura Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (57.1 per cent) and Darwin Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time departures (54.1 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 December 2022

Figure 1: Total Industry On Time Performance by month from December 2019