Regional Express (Rex) had the highest percentage of on-time arrivals and departures among Australia’s domestic carriers in June, new figures show.
The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) monthly report said Rex had 81.8 per cent of its flights arrive on schedule, while 84.6 per cent of the regional carrier’s flights departed on time.
The BITRE report defines as flight as on-time if it arrives or departs within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.
Behind Rex for arrivals in June were QantasLink and Virgin Australia, which both had 80 per cent of their flights reach the gate on-time. The pair was followed by Jetstar (77.8 per cent) and Qantas (77.6 per cent).
Rex was also the most punctual carrier for departures in June with 84.6 per cent of its services pushing back within 15 minutes of schedule, just ahead of Virgin Australia on 83.2 per cent. Qantas and its regional wing QantasLink were tied for third at 80.9 per cent.
It was a trifecta of punctuality honours for Rex, which also had the lowest cancellation rate at 0.6 per cent, ahead of Jetstar (0.8 per cent).
At the other end of the table was Tigerair Australia, which had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals and departures at 66.1 per cent and 68.2 per cent, respectively. It also recorded the highest cancellation rate at 2.1 per cent
The Virgin Australia-owned low-cost carrier (LCC), which is in the process of transitioning its fleet from Airbus A320s to Boeing 737-800s, has trailed all domestic carriers in terms of punctuality for arrivals and departures since October 2018.
BITRE noted in its monthly report there was some variance between the airlines in terms of data collection.
Jetstar and Qantas jet services used Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) to electronically measure performance, with other Qantas services and non-Qantas carriers collected data manually from pilots, gate agents and/or ground crew.
Virgin Australia said in a statement on Monday an analysis of the BITRE figures for full 2018/19 financial year showed it had the highest on-time departures among all the domestic carriers for the 12 months to June 30 2019 at 81.9 per cent.
In terms of specific routes, flights between Cairns and Townsville in Far North Queensland had the highest percentage of on-time arrivals in June, with Cairns-Townsville at 93.7 per cent and Townsville-Cairns at 92.9 per cent.
The most punctual route for departures was Perth-Karratha at 93.9 per cent, followed by Sydney-Proserpine at 93.8 per cent.
Regional ports dominated the top 10 list of airports for on-time performance, with Emerald (90.9 per cent), Bundaberg and Port Lincoln (90.4 per cent) best for departures.
Meanwhile, Bundaberg topped the list of airport on-time departures at 91.8 per cent, ahead of Karratha (89.9 per cent) and Port Lincoln (89.7 per cent).
Adelaide was the only capital city airport to make the either list. It placed 10th for on-time departures at 85.9 per cent in June.
On-time performance for June
| Sectors | Arrivals on time | Departures on time | Cancellations | |||||
| Scheduled | Flown | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| Jetstar | 6363 | 6315 | 4,910 | 77.8 | 4,870 | 77.1 | 48 | 0.8 |
| Qantas | 8938 | 8681 | 6739 | 77.6 | 7019 | 80.9 | 257 | 2.9 |
| QantasLink | 9948 | 9768 | 7819 | 80.0 | 7905 | 80.9 | 180 | 1.8 |
| Regional Express | 5975 | 5938 | 4860 | 81.8 | 5024 | 84.6 | 37 | 0.6 |
| Tigerair Australia | 2240 | 2192 | 1449 | 66.1 | 1495 | 68.2 | 48 | 2.1 |
| Virgin Australia | 10961 | 10791 | 8628 | 80.0 | 8981 | 83.2 | 170 | 1.6 |
| Virgin Australia Regional Airlines | 827 | 814 | 579 | 71.1 | 643 | 79.0 | 13 | 1.6 |
| All Airlines | 45252 | 44499 | 34984 | 78.6 | 35937 | 80.8 | 753 | 1.7 |
| All Qantas designated | 18886 | 18449 | 14558 | 78.9 | 14924 | 80.9 | 437 | 2.3 |
| All Virgin Australia designated | 11788 | 11605 | 9207 | 79.3 | 9624 | 82.9 | 183 | 1.6 |
Source: BITRE
