Australia suffered its worst on-time performance on record last month, as a result of staff shortages and huge flight delays and cancellations. The Australian government Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE), which monitors the on-time performance of major domestic airlines operating between Australian airports, has confirmed the above statement.
According to the data released, for June 2022, on-time performance on all routes operated by the key airlines – Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, only 63 per cent recorded on-time arrivals and 61.9 per cent for on-time departures. The cancellation rate across Australian airports for the month was 5.8 per cent.
Qantas suffered the highest percentage of cancellations
The figures show that Qantas recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 8.1 per cent in June across Australian airports, followed by QantasLink at 7 per cent, Virgin Australia at 5.8 per cent, Jetstar at 5.5 per cent, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 5.3 per cent and Rex Airlines at 0.7 per cent.
Qantas fared the lowest on-time arrival in June, with only 59.4 per cent of flights arriving on time.
Explaining his views about what’s happening across the Australian airports, aviation industry and around the world, Qantas Domestic and International CEO, Andrew David said, “Much has been said about Qantas in the last few months. Some of it’s fair, as we’re absolutely not delivering the service that our customers expect, but some of it fails to take into consideration what’s happening across the industry here and around the world.”
“The truth is that the difficulties we are facing now are because of Covid and flu-related sickness, as well as an extremely tight labour market. It’s a difficult truth that airlines, airports, air traffic control agencies and almost every business in Australia and around the world are experiencing. We are working hard to proactively manage this challenge.”
Given the current scenario of Covid and flu, Qantas’s David warns about what’s coming next. He said, “There will be a few more bumps along the way, but over the weeks and months ahead, flying will get back to being as smooth as it used to be.”
Jetstar’s declining departure rate
The analysed data shows that Qantas’s low-cost subsidiary Jetstar recorded the worst on-departure performance, with only 55.7 per cent of flights departing on time.
Virgin Australia performed better than Qantas
This group performed fairly better as compared to the national flag carrier Qantas across Australian airports. The Virgin Australia network recorded 59.8 per cent for on-time departures, while the Qantas network recorded 58.7 per cent. Virgin Australia achieved the highest level of on-time departures among the major domestic airlines for June 2022 at 60.4 per cent.
The BITRE also reports that the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 61.8 per cent for on-time arrivals while the Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 59.4 per cent, stating Virgin Australia achieved the highest on-time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 62.4 per cent.
The highest cancellation rates were on the Sydney-Melbourne route
Cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Melbourne route at 15.3 per cent, followed by the Melbourne-Sydney route at 14.9 per cent, the Sydney-Canberra route at 11.1 per cent, the Canberra-Sydney route at 10.7 per cent and the Canberra-Melbourne route at 10.5 per cent.
For more updates on Australia’s airport chaos, be sure to follow @thetravelradar on social media!
