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Sydney Airport was Australia’s most-delayed domestic gateway last year, according to analysis from insurer iSelect.
In iSelect’s Australian Airport Delay Index for 2025, Sydney saw 6,700,207 passengers delayed or cancelled, ahead of Melbourne at 6,360,989, and Brisbane at 4,652,914. 23 per cent of Sydney flights were delayed and 3.12 per cent cancelled last year.
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It comes as a total of 9.96 million passengers travelled through Sydney’s terminals in Q2 2026, down 0.7 per cent on the same period in 2025, though half-yearly passenger traffic was up 1.5 per cent on 2025 levels.
iSelect noted that as Sydney is Australia’s largest and busiest airport, it is “expected to have the most people impacted”.
“Delays are unfortunately a reality of air travel, particularly at Australia’s busiest airports where even small disruptions can affect thousands of passengers,” said Adrian Bennett, general manager – general insurance at iSelect.
“Our analysis shows that millions of travellers were impacted by delayed departures last year alone, highlighting why it’s important to allow extra time when travelling, particularly during holiday and peak seasons.”
Though Canberra and the Sunshine Coast ranked ninth and tenth respectively in the overall figures, Canberra experienced the highest cancellation rate at 4.5 per cent and Sunshine Coast the highest rate of delays at 31 per cent.
“While [Sunshine Coast] Airport has fewer passengers than most of Australia’s capitals, the high proportion of delayed services meant an estimated 539,275 passengers were impacted by delays or cancellations in 2025, including 518,905 travellers affected by delayed departures,” said iSelect.
“The findings suggest Sunshine Coast travellers were among the most likely in Australia to experience a disrupted journey.”
Sydney Airport says it has been improving its operational performance; with new screening points at Terminal 2 now up and running, all passengers cleared domestic security within 10 minutes, while 99.9 per cent of international passengers were through in under 10 minutes.
“While flight delays and cancellations can occur across the aviation network for a range of reasons, Sydney Airport works closely with airlines and industry partners to minimise disruption and keep passengers moving,” a spokesperson said.
“Travellers are encouraged to check the latest flight status on the Sydney Airport website and with their airline before heading to the airport.”
Sydney has experienced a number of highly-publicised disruptions in recent months due in part to issues with air traffic control staffing.
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