Cancellations and delays continue to burden domestic travellers with 1-in-4 flights arriving or departing late in February, new transport data shows

If you think your flight is always delayed, you’re not wrong. New figures reveal just what Australian domestic travellers are putting up with.

About one in four domestic flights taking off in Australia are either arriving or departing late, new transport data shows.

Monthly performance figures from the department of transport’s research bureau shows that despite an improvement from last year, on-time arrivals averaged 73 per cent in February, lagging significantly behind pre-Covid levels.

About 4 per cent of flights were cancelled earlier this year, double the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.

Virgin Australia was by far the worst performer for on-time arrivals, with 28.5 per cent of flights running behind schedule, followed by Qantas at 27.3 per cent.

Qantas recorded the highest rate of flight cancellations, at 5.8 per cent, which it attributed to mass pilot strikes in Perth during February.

“We had to cancel almost 550 flights because of seven 24-hour strikes, accounting for more than half of our total cancellations for the month,” Qantas Operations Centre head Daniel Dihen said in a statement.

Virgin cancelled about 312 flights at the start of the year, followed by Jetstar at 175.

Passengers between Melbourne and Darwin face the most delays on flights than any other route. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

According to the new data, the Melbourne-Darwin route had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals at 44 per cent, while the Mildura-Melbourne route had the lowest rates of on-time departures at 53 per cent.

Domestic travellers departing from Victoria’s Mildura airport were the most likely to endure flight delays in February, with only 59 per cent of flights arriving on schedule and 53 per cent departing on time.

Federal politicians launched a push this week to have local passengers compensated for flight delays or cancellations after separate data showed that nearly 30 per cent of domestic flights were cancelled during Christmas holidays.

The Labor government has refused to support the Bill, which was introduced by Coalition senators on Wednesday.

Originally published as Cancellations and delays continue to burden domestic travellers with 1-in-4 flights arriving or departing late in February, new transport data shows