Virgin Australia’s most punctual airline in March

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Sydney Airport. (Seth Jaworski)

Virgin Australia has retained the title of the nation’s most punctual airline for a fifth straight month.

Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) showed Virgin led all airlines in March with an on time departure rate of 91.8 per cent, while its on time arrival rate was also an industry leading 90 per cent.

BITRE defines a flight as on time if it arrives or departs within 15 minutes of schedule.

Virgin, Australia’s second largest carrier, has had the highest on time percentage among all Australian airlines since November 2014.

Qantas, which led the on time stats throughout 2013 and most of 2014, was more than two percentage points adrift of its domestic rival in February with 89.3 per cent of its flights departing on time and 88.2 per cent reaching the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule.

Behind Qantas were Tigerair Australia (86.5 per cent for departures and 84 per cent for departures) and Jetstar (85.9 per cent on time departures and 86.5 per cent arrivals) .

Among the regional carriers, Regional Express (Rex) reclaimed top position in March with an on time departure rate of 88.9 per cent. Virgin Australia Regional Airlines was second at 88.8 per cent, with QantasLink third on 87.9 per cent.

The best-performing airports in March were Proserpine Airport, which had the highest on time departure rate of 97.5 per cent, and Ayers Rock Airport, which recorded the highest on time arrival rate of 96.6 per cent.

Darwin Airport was the only capital city airport to feature in the top 10 airports for on-time arrivals or departures. The Northern Territory capital was ninth in terms of on time arrivals with 92.3 per cent of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.