Looking to book your next flight on a reliable airline? Each month, the Australian government publishes figures showing the most reliable airline based around on-time performance data on domestic routes.

Which airlines report their punctuality & reliability?

Most major Australian airlines flying domestic routes are involved in the report. At present the report includes details from:

  • Bonza

  • Jetstar

  • Qantas

  • QantasLink

  • Rex Airlines

  • Skytrans

  • Virgin Australia

  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines

In total, these airlines cover approximately 98% of total domestic passengers as of 2023.

Which is Australia’s most reliable airline?

As of February 2024, there’s great news if you’re flying Bonza. They had the best likelihood of departing on time and arriving on time. 81.7% of flights arrived on time, and 81.7% of flights departed on time. Just 2.5% of flights were cancelled.

Of the major airlines, Jetstar performed best with 76.1% of flights arriving on time and 74.3% of flights departing on time. Flights from the Qantas group came third with 74.2% of flights departing on time and 72.7% of flights arriving on time.

Qantas flights departed on time 71.7% of the time while QantasLink flights left on time 75.8% of the time.

Rex and Skytrans performed next best. Virgin - who just revealed their new aircraft have been delayed - came last with 73.9% of departures time and 71.5% of arrivals on time.

What is the most reliable Australian flight route?

As of February 2024, the route between Adelaide and the Gold Coast was the most reliable. 89.7% of flights arrived on time, while 91.4% of flights departed on time.

If you’re headed to Darwin from Melbourne, then this was the worst performing route for on-time arrivals, with just 44.4% of flights arriving as scheduled.

Meanwhile Mildura to Melbourne had the worst track record for flight departure time, with only 53.2% of flights departing on time.

How is the data collated?

Good question! The report takes into consideration flights which:

  • Operate on domestic routes within Australia

  • The passenger load averaged 8000 or more passengers per month over the past six months

  • Has two or more airlines competing for passengers on the route

Each airline is responsible for reporting their statistics to the Department each month. Qantas and Jetstar jets provide electronically measured time data. Rex, Virgin and Qantas non-jet data is collated manually using flight records or ground crew reports.