Qantas tops on-time charts with best April performance in 9 years

“We know how much reliability means for customers and thanks to the dedication of our team, Qantas delivered its best April on-time performance in nine years,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

“Almost 86 per cent of Qantas and QantasLink flights departed on time in April, despite some challenging weather, and the busy school holiday and public holiday period.

“We’re continuing efforts to further improve our reliability, including through new technology that helps our frontline teams better predict and manage disruptions for customers.”

Virgin Australia saw 83.4 per cent on-time arrivals and departures as well as 0.8 per cent cancellations, with its Integrated Operations Centre general manager, Danny Norman, saying the carrier has had the highest completion rates among major airlines for the past seven months.

“We understand that a delay can be frustrating, but a cancellation can disrupt an entire trip, so our priority is to keep guests moving safely and, wherever possible, operate the flight as scheduled so they reach their destination on their planned day of travel,” he said.

“Completions are one of the clearest measures of reliability for travellers because they show whether a scheduled flight actually operates. While on-time performance remains important, our focus is not on punctuality in isolation.

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“This month’s results outperformed the long-term average for all major Australian airlines and reflects the continued focus of our team on delivering a safe, stable and reliable operation.”

Across all participating airlines (Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans Australia, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines), on-time arrivals averaged 82.9 per cent and on-time departures 82.6 per cent, with 1.9 per cent of flights cancelled; this was better than long-term averages on all three measures, and an improvement on April 2025.

On-time arrivals (per cent)

• All airlines – 82.9
• Qantas and QantasLink – 85.8
• Virgin Australia and VARA – 83.4
• Hinterland – 92.1
• QantasLink – 86.4
• Qantas – 84.7
• Virgin Australia – 83.5
• Long-term average – 80.5
• Jetstar – 78.3
• Rex – 74.6
• Skytrans – 73.1
• Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 71.2

On-time departures (per cent)

• All airlines – 82.6
• Qantas and QantasLink – 85.8
• Virgin Australia and VARA – 83.4
• Hinterland – 95.7
• Qantas – 87.0
• QantasLink – 85.2
• Virgin Australia – 83.6
• Long-term average – 81.6
• Skytrans – 78.6
• Rex – 76.7
• Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 69.9
• Jetstar – 75.0

Cancellations (per cent)

• All airlines – 1.9
• Qantas and QantasLink – 2.2
• Virgin Australia and VARA – 0.8
• Rex – 3.8
• QantasLink – 2.4
• Skytrans – 2.2
• Long-term average – 2.2
• Jetstar – 2.0
• Qantas – 1.9
• Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 1.4
• Virgin Australia – 0.8
• Hinterland – 0.6