Virgin Australia’s most punctual airline in February

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Sydney Airport. (Seth Jaworski)

Virgin Australia has retained the title of the nation’s most punctual airline for a fourth straight month.

Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) showed Virgin led all airlines in February with an on time departure rate of 91.6 per cent, while its on time arrival rate was also an industry leading 89.2 per cent.

BITRE defines an on time flight as one that arrives or departs within 15 minutes of schedule.

Virgin, Australia’s second largest carrier, has had the highest on time percentage among all Australian airlines since November 2014.

Qantas, which led the on time stats throughout 2013 and most of 2014, was more than one percentage point adrift of its domestic rival in February with 90.1 per cent of its flights departing on time and 88.2 per cent reaching the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule.

Behind Qantas were Jetstar (84 per cent on time departures) and Tigerair Australia (83 per cent).

Among the regional carriers, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines came out ahead in February with 90.5 per cent on time departures and 87.6 per cent on time arrivals.

Regional Express (Rex) was second at 89.6 per cent on time departures, followed by Qantaslink (88 per cent).

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The Perth-Darwin route, served by Virgin and Qantas, had the rare distinction of a perfect month in February, when all 62 scheduled flights departed the West Australian capital on time. Despite the punctual departure from Perth, only 98.4 per cent of those flights (61 out of 62) landed at Darwin Airport within 15 minutes of schedule.

The previous month with a perfect score was November 2014, when all Adelaide-Gold Coast flights departed on time.