Domestic airline on-time performance (OTP) strengthened in August 2026, with on-time arrivals across all reporting carriers averaging 81.4% and on-time departures reaching 81.7 per cent – both up sharply on the same month last year.
The figures, covering Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans Australia, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, compare with 74.6 per cent on-time arrivals, 75.5 per cent on-time departures and a 2.4 per cent cancellation rate in August 2025. Cancellations for August 2026 came in at 1.1 per cent.
Both OTP metrics for the month sat above the long-term average – 80.5 per cent for arrivals and 81.6 per cent for departures, calculated since reporting began in November 2003 – though the cancellation rate was higher than the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.
Carrier performance
The Qantas network – combining Qantas and QantasLink – recorded 83.6% on-time arrivals, ahead of the Virgin Australia network’s 81.1%. Hinterland led all carriers on arrivals at 95.0%, followed by QantasLink (83.7%), Qantas (83.5%), Virgin Australia (81.2%), Jetstar (76.7%), Rex Airlines (75.8%), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (74.7%) and Skytrans (73.1%).
On departures, Hinterland again topped the table at 97.5 per cent, ahead of Qantas (85.9%), QantasLink (82.8%), Virgin Australia (81.8%), Rex Airlines (78.5%), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (77.0%), Jetstar (74.6%) and Skytrans Australia (74.3%).
Skytrans Australia posted the highest cancellation rate at 4.1 per cent, followed by Rex Airlines (1.9%) and QantasLink (1.7%). Virgin Australia and Qantas recorded 0.9% and 0.8% respectively, while Jetstar cancelled 0.5 per cent of flights. Hinterland and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines both reported zero cancellations for the month.
Routes and airports
Among the 59 routes (118 sectors) meeting the reporting threshold, Melbourne–Ayers Rock had the best on-time arrivals result at 100%, while Perth–Adelaide led on departures at 94.2%. Hamilton Island–Sydney was the weakest performer on both measures, with on-time arrivals of 51.7% and departures of 48.3%.
Cancellations were concentrated on regional sectors, led by Orange–Sydney (8.7%) and Sydney–Orange (8.5%), followed by Port Lincoln–Adelaide (5.1%), Adelaide–Port Lincoln (4.3%), Canberra–Melbourne (3.8%) and Port Macquarie–Sydney (3.4%). Thirty-five of the 118 sectors recorded zero cancellations for the month.
At airport level, Ayers Rock Airport posted the best on-time arrivals figure (100%) and Emerald Airport the best on-time departures (93.4%). Port Macquarie Airport had the lowest on-time arrivals (62.9%) and Hamilton Island Airport the lowest on-time departures (49.2%).
