Qantas still the most on-time domestic airline: govt

Qantas is still the most punctual airline for domestic flights, government statistics show.

According to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), Qantas got passengers to their destination on-time more often than any other airline.

The domestic airline on time performance 2010-11 report shows Qantas departing on-time 83.8 per cent of the time, followed by Virgin Australia at 79.9 per cent, Jetstar at 77.1 per cent and Tiger Airways at 65.9 per cent.

Qantas had the best on-time performance of domestic airlines for 10 out of the 12 months during this period.

The figures include the period where Qantas' entire fleet was grounded during the volcanic ash cloud crisis, while other airlines continued flying.

The worst airline was (no surprises here) Tiger Airways, with just 66% of flights arriving on time, and exactly twice the number of cancelled flights compared to Qantas.

Qantas took a controversial decision earlier this month to ban pilots from flying planes faster to make up time on late flights.

However, Qantas made one exception: if a pilot could sneak the plane in under the 15 minute threshhold set by the government for "on-time" flights, he would be allowed to fly faster, showing that Qantas cares very much about maintaining its on-time performance statistics.