Qantas and Virgin Australia cancelled or delayed more than half of domestic flights

Worrying new data has revealed how many flights were delayed or cancelled last week by Australia’s two major airlines.

Shocking figures have revealed the severity of Australia’s aviation crisis after more than half of the domestic flights from the country’s two major airlines were delayed or cancelled last week.

From Monday to Sunday, Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of domestic flights and only 44 per cent of planes were on time.

During that same period, Virgin Australia cancelled 14.7 per cent of flights and 43 per cent of planes were on time.

More than half of Virgin Australia flights were delayed or cancelled. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

The stunning figures obtained by The Australian mean both airlines are at risk of historically low on-time performances.

The aviation industry has been dealing with increased instances of delayed and cancelled flights recently due to high travel numbers during the school holidays and staff shortages due to illness.

These factors were exacerbated by the heavy rain and torrid weather in NSW, which were reportedly the main reasons behind last week’s troubling numbers.

It has meant that stories from frustrated customers on delayed and cancelled flights or with missing luggage have become increasingly common.

A Qantas spokesman said the airline “appreciated” how tough the situation was for customers.

“We appreciate how frustrating flight cancellations and delays are for customers with severe weather in NSW and a spike in Covid cases for operating crew impacting airline schedules over the past week,” he said.

A Qantas spokesman said he ‘appreciated’ why customers were frustrated. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“We had additional crew on standby and used larger aircraft on some flights, which allowed us to better respond to these issues and get 85 per cent of our domestic flights to depart within an hour of schedule. Customers on cancelled flights are moved to alternative flights, usually within a few hours.”

Virgin had a similar message for affected customers.

“We sincerely apologise to any guests impacted by delayed or cancelled services and we are working tirelessly to ensure all guests reach their final destination,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson said.

“We know Covid case numbers are rising again, there is a record number of flu cases, and this is on top of the usual winter illness the community experiences; we are not immune to the impact of this and are not the only business experiencing the unintended knock-on effects of increased sickness present in the wider community.

“There have also been a number of weather events, primarily in NSW, and this comes at a time when airports and airlines globally are also experiencing huge demand and challenges as travellers return to the sky as pandemic restrictions ease.”

Official on-time performance data from the Bureau of Infrastructure Transport Research Economics (BITRE) showed that in May, 60.7 per cent of Qantas flights were on time and 7.1 per cent were cancelled.

For Virgin, 65.7 per cent of flights were on time and 5 per cent were cancelled, while Jetstar had an on-time rate of 60.6 per cent and a cancellation rate of 5.7 per cent.

People line up at Adelaide airport where 15 flights were delayed and six cancelled due to fog. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Overall, May’s on-time arrival and departure figures (64.2 per cent) were significantly lower than the long-term average performance for all routes.

The rate of cancellations (5.6 per cent) was also higher than the long-term average of 2 per cent.

These alarming figures were attributed to the weather, congestion and Covid-related issues during May.

The official BITRE statistics for June will be released at the end of the month.