Australian airlines lifted on-time performance in July compared with the same month last year, even as results remained below the long-term benchmark, the latest BITRE domestic airline on time performance report shows.
Across the eight participating carriers – Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans Australia, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – on-time arrivals averaged 78.4 per cent and on-time departures 78.8 per cent for the month. The cancellation rate was 1.5 per cent.
That compares with 73.0 per cent on-time arrivals, 74.2 per cent on-time departures and a 3.1 per cent cancellation rate in July last year.
Despite the improvement, both arrivals and departures sat below the long-term average since BITRE began reporting in November 2003, of 80.5 per cent and 81.6 per cent respectively. The cancellation rate, however, came in under the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.
Hinterland posted the best on-time performance of any carrier, with 93.1 per cent of arrivals and 96.1 per cent of departures on time. Jetstar recorded the weakest on-time departures result at 70.0 per cent, while Virgin Australia Regional Airlines had the lowest on-time arrivals, at 65.6 per cent – though it was also the only carrier to record zero cancellations for the month.
Cancellation rates
Skytrans Australia had the highest cancellation rate, at 3.6 per cent.
On a network basis, Qantas (combined with QantasLink) recorded 81.4 per cent on-time arrivals and 82.0 per cent on-time departures, ahead of the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined) on 76.3 per cent and 77.1 per cent respectively.
Route-level data covering 59 routes found Adelaide-Perth had the highest on-time arrivals of any sector, at 91.9 per cent, while Brisbane-Mount Isa led on-time departures, at 95.8 per cent. Alice Springs-Adelaide was the weakest performer on both measures, with just 50.0 per cent of arrivals and 46.0 per cent of departures on time.
Canberra-Sydney had the highest cancellation rate of any sector, at 5.4 per cent, followed by Mildura-Melbourne at 5.2 per cent.
At an airport level, Mount Isa recorded the highest share of on-time arrivals, at 91.7 per cent, while Emerald had the best on-time departures, at 89.6 per cent. Alice Springs Airport was the weakest performer on both counts.
