Qantas and Virgin Australia’s regional operations can both claim honours in April for on-time performance, new figures show.
The monthly report from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics on punctuality in the skies found 86.3 per cent of Qantas domestic flights pushed back from the gate within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure in April.
Next best was Virgin Australia at 81.7 per cent, followed by Jetstar at 80.4 per cent and Tigerair (71.2 per cent).
Qantas was the most punctual airline throughout 2013 and has come out ahead during the first four months of 2014.
Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) came out on top among the regional airlines in April.
VARA achieved an on-time departure rate of 87 per cent, just ahead of REX at 86.6 per cent and QantasLink at 84.9 per cent.
The best route for on-time departures was Hamilton Island-Brisbane, where 95.6 per cent of all scheduled flights left within 15 minutes of schedule.
Elsewhere, QantasLink had the highest percentage of cancellations at 2.7 per cent, with Virgin Australia and Jetstar next at 2.6 per cent. Qantas cancelled 1.8 per cent of its scheduled flights in April.
