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The ACCC has highlighted a “sustained improvement” in domestic airline cancellation rates in the three months to July 2026.
Only 1.5 per cent of flights were cancelled across Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin and Rex in each of May, June and July this year, the consumer and competition watchdog said in its latest Domestic Airline Competition in Australia report.
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“This is the longest consecutive period that cancellation rates have been below the long-term industry average of 2.2 per cent since 2018,” the ACCC said.
On-time performance, however, saw a drop from 82.5 per cent in May to 78.4 per cent in July, falling below the long-term average of 80.5 per cent.
“At 81.4 per cent in July, Qantas was the only airline with an on-time arrival rate above the long-term industry average (80.5 per cent) and has been the strongest performer with respect to on-time arrivals for six consecutive months,” the ACCC said.
“Rex (76.9 per cent), Virgin Australia (76.3 per cent) and Jetstar (72.5 per cent) all recorded on-time arrival rates below the long-term industry average. However, Rex’s on-time arrivals were its highest since January 2026, reflecting a significant improvement for the airline.
“Jetstar’s on-time arrivals in July 2026 were notably lower than other airlines on some of its busiest routes.”
In official BITRE data for July, Skytrans recorded the highest cancellation rate of participating airlines, at 3.6 per cent.
“The second highest cancellation rate was from QantasLink at 2.2 per cent, Qantas at 1.6 per cent, Virgin Australia at 1.4 per cent, Rex Airlines at 1.2 per cent, Jetstar at 0.9 per cent, Hinterland at 0.4 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 0.0 per cent,” said BITRE.
“Cancellations were highest on the Canberra-Sydney sector at 5.4 per cent, followed by the Mildura-Melbourne sector at 5.2 per cent, the Sydney-Canberra sector at 4.7 per cent, the Canberra-Melbourne sector at 4.5 per cent, the Melbourne-Sydney sector at 4.3 per cent and the Sydney-Melbourne sector at 4.2 per cent.
“For the month of July 2026 there were 39 out of the 118 route sectors (from the 59 routes) that had zero cancellations.”
Seat capacity dropped by 2.3 per cent year-on-year in both May and June 2026, according to the ACCC, with June having the lowest available capacity for that month since 2022.
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