Qantas leads on-time, Virgin Blue tops for cancellations

By David Flynn, April 21 2011
Qantas leads on-time, Virgin Blue tops for cancellations

Qantas remains in the lead for on-time arrivals and departures and Tiger Airways shows no signs of relinquishing its wooden spoon status as Australia's least punctual airline, according to the latest figures from the federal government's Department of Infrastructure and Transport.

Virgin Blue recorded the highest number of flight cancellations, however, with 1.3% of its scheduled flights nixed, against 1% for Qantas.

The latest Domestic On-Time Performance report reveals that in March this year, Qantas averaged 83.75% for on-time arrivals and departures – with the caveat that, according to the number-crunchers, flights are counted as "on time" if they arrive or depart from the gate within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.

Jetstar followed with an average of 78.7% of flights on time, Virgin Blue with 75.2% and Tiger tailing at 70.7%.

March marks a return to something resembling normality for the domestic airlines following the effects on on-time performance and cancellations caused by the impact of Cyclone Yasi on Queensland in February.

A year-on-year comparison of the latest figures against March 2010 show that overall, on-time departures and arrivals have dramatically slipped for all domestic airlines. In March 2010 Qantas achieved an on-time average of 87.7%; Virgin Blue, 85%; Jetstar 83% and Tigher Airways 74%.

If you're keen to dive a little deeper into the March 2011 numbers or want to slice and dice them for yourself, you can download a PDF copy of the report.

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.


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