Qantas had a significant improvement in punctuality in January, returning to levels that are close to long term averages over the busy school holiday month.
Throughout January, 77.8 per cent of Qantas flights (Qantas and QantasLink combined) departed on time, the latest government data released today shows.
This was the airline’s best result since February 2023 and well above the 69.5 per cent achieved the previous month – a figure heavily influenced by weather and air traffic control issues.
This marks the 17th consecutive month that Qantas delivered better reliability than its main domestic competitor.
Qantas’ cancellation rate of 2.5 per cent in January was around half that of its main competitor and close to the long-term rate for the industry (2.2 per cent).
Jetstar’s on time performance improved month-on-month, with 69 per cent of flights departing on time and 2.4 per cent of flights cancelled, its best result since August 2023. In December, just over 62 per cent of flights departed on time and 5.5 per cent of flights were cancelled.
Air Traffic Control workforce shortages continue to cause delays and cancellations, with Airservices Australia advising of staff shortages on 22 days for the month. Uncontrollable factors – mainly air traffic control issues and weather – reduced Qantas’ on time performance in January by 6.3 percentage points.
The recent improvement in reliability for Qantas and Jetstar has continued so far in February, though has been impacted by industrial action from Network Aviation pilots in Western Australia.