Qantas worse than Jetstar for on-time performance in October

Qantas has sunk to a new low in the punctuality stakes, performing less reliably than Jetstar last month.

Qantas performed even worse than low fares partner Jetstar in October, with one in three flights landing behind schedule and more than 10 services a day cancelled.

Monthly on-time performance data published by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed the Qantas main line airline was the least reliable of any carrier, with only 66.6 per cent of flights arriving within 15-minutes of schedule.

In addition Qantas cancelled 4.3 per cent of services or a total of 356 flights, the worst rate of any carrier.

In contrast country carrier QantasLink was the best, landing 77.2 per cent of flights on time, followed by Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) on 73.9 per cent and Rex (73.5 per cent).

Jetstar managed to land 68 per cent of flights on time and cancelled 4.1 per cent, or 318 flights.

The BITRE report noted the average on-time performance for flight arrivals across all airlines was 71.1 per cent which was “significantly lower” than the long term average of 81.2 per cent.

At 3.8 per cent, the average cancellation rate was also higher than the 2.2 per cent long term average.

Qantas pointed out that October operations were heavily affected by bad weather, with only six days of the month not impacted by high winds and storms.

Furthermore, 42 Qantas flights were cancelled due to lightning strikes on aircraft, and industrial action by pilots in Western Australia caused dozens of flight cancellations.

A spokesman said contingency planning was well underway ahead of the Christmas season to add extra resilience into their operations with more crew on standby.

“We know how important it is for our customers to get away on time and we’re focused on making sure we deliver on the experience our customers expect,” said the spokesman.

“We remain the most on-time major airline, leading our main competitor for a 14th consecutive month.”

No data was available for low cost carrier Bonza which has previously claimed to be the most reliable airline in the country.