Airlines revive on-time performance in January
Qantas and Virgin evenly matched in monthly stats.
Australian airlines' arrivals, departures and cancellations figures showed immense improvement month-on-month across all routes, while rivals Qantas and Virgin Australia were relatively evenly matched.
The latest domestic airline on-time performance stats from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) show on-time arrivals averaged 87.6% and on-time departures 87.2% in January 2017, significantly higher than long-term arrivals (82.7%) and departures (84.2%) averages.
The figures were a vast improvement on last month, reversing the downward trend started late last year.
Just 1.1% of all scheduled flights were cancelled last month, well below the long-term average of 1.4%.
Qantas (91.7%) had the best on-time arrivals among major airlines, followed closely by Virgin Australia (91.6%). However, Virgin achieved the highest on-time departures (91.7%), trailed by Qantas (91.5%).
| Airline | On-time arrivals | On-time departures | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetstar | 81.20% | 76.40% | 1.00% |
| Qantas | 91.70% | 91.50% | 0.50% |
| QantasLink | 86.10% | 86.60% | 2.20% |
| Regional Express | 89.20% | 92.10% | 0.20% |
| Tigerair Australia | 79.00% | 77.50% | 1.50% |
| Virgin Australia | 91.60% | 91.70% | 0.90% |
| Virgin Australia Regional Airlines | 90.30% | 92.10% | 2.00% |
| All Airlines | 87.60% | 87.20% | 1.10% |
Virgin Australia Regional Airlines and Regional Express enjoyed the best on-time departures (92.1%).
Jetstar was the worst performing airline for both on-time arrivals (81.2%) and departures (76.4%).
Regional carrier QantasLink recorded the highest percentage of cancellations (2.2%) during January.
Passengers flying from Townsville-Sydney suffered the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals (68.5%), while those who flew Sydney-Townsville experienced the worst on-time departures (65.5%).
Cancellations were highest on the Karratha-Perth route at 6.5%.
Choosing the right time to fly can cut costs but early and late flights are likelier to incur cancellations.
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