Qantas cancellation rate hits 3.2 per cent in July in latest report

New airline data has revealed the extent of cancelled flights linking Adelaide to the rest of the nation.

The results are in on which airlines have the most cancellations of flights out of Adelaide, with Jetstar the worst carrier.

In July, 36 of the 2127 Qantas or QantasLink flights to or from Adelaide – or 1.7 per cent – were cancelled, with routes to most capital cities among the mix, as well as popular intrastate destinations such as Port Lincoln.

Despite operating the fewest flights to or from Adelaide, Jetstar recorded the highest number of cancellations for the month with 39 of the 690 scheduled flights canned, or 5.6 per cent.

Virgin grounded 16 of 1366 flights in Adelaide at a rate of 1.2 per cent.

Qantas cancelled the highest number of flights across the country last month, with Adelaide travellers caught up in the turbulence. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Fifteen Qantas flights were listed as cancelled on Thursday, the latest in a spate of double-digit cancellations in the past two weeks.

The latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics report revealed Qantas had cancelled 3.2 per cent of flights nationally in July.

That was down from 3.3 per cent in June. Nationally, Qantas cancelled 663 of its 20,522 scheduled flights for the month, Jetstar canned 299 of its scheduled 8128 (3.7 per cent) and Virgin 256 of its 12,313 flights (2.1 per cent).

Qantas’ busiest routes with Adelaide were linking with Melbourne and Sydney.

A spokeswoman for Qantas said the airline’s “punctuality for the month” was its best July result since 2021.

“Over the past four months, almost 80 per cent of Qantas flights have departed on time,” they said.

The spokeswoman also said despite the terminations, the airline was still doing well against competitors.

“The latest government report shows that in July, Qantas was the most on-time major domestic airline, while Adelaide had the most on-time flights of any capital city,” she said.

All airlines were affected by the July 19 CrowdStrike outage which grounded flights across the world.

Jetstar chief operating officer Matt Franzi said the airline’s cancellation rate for July remained low, at 3.7 per cent of all domestic flights.

“As a result of Crowdstrike and some poor weather conditions, our on-time performance decreased from past months to 65 per cent of flights departing on time.

“Despite these challenges, our teams continue to work hard to make sure that our flights are on time for our customers.” A cancelled flight is defined as one removed from service within seven days of its scheduled departure.

Virgin Australia’s integrated operations centre general manager Danny Norman said the airline’s national cancellation rate was 2 per cent.

A cancelled flight is defined as one removed from service within seven days of its scheduled departure. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in its latest report monitoring airfares and competition in the country’s aviation sector for June, found there was a reduction overall in airline cancellations.

It found the cancellation rate for domestic airlines dipped below the long-term industry average for the first time since October 2020.

“In June 2024, the average cancellation rate increased to 2.5 per cent, with Qantas recording the highest cancellation rate of any airline at 3.3 per cent,” the watchdog’s report said.

“This was followed by Jetstar at 2.2 per cent and Virgin Australia at 1.9 per cent.

Rex recorded the lowest cancellation rate amongst the airlines in June 2024 at 1.1 per cent.

While airfares had continued to drop, the ACCC cautioned travellers “may miss out” on the benefits of increased competition across the sector after regional operator Rex’s withdrawal from the market, and the spectacular collapse of Bonza airlines.

Significantly, it meant no domestic route had more than two competing airline groups.

“The concentrated nature of Australia’s domestic aviation industry reinforces the importance of the ongoing transparency and scrutiny we bring through our monitoring role,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.