Qantas was the most punctual major domestic airline in July, with the latest Government data showing Qantas flights (Qantas and QantasLink) departed on time 74.1 per cent of the time, compared to 73 per cent for its main competitor.
From April to the end of July, almost 80 per cent of Qantas flights departed on time, nearing long term averages.
It was the highest July result for Qantas since 2021 but down slightly on recent months with airlines impacted by severe weather events.
Challenging weather conditions including strong winds created delays and cancellations around the network on 27 of 31 days last month and airlines were limited to just one runway at Sydney Airport on 9 separate days.
3.2 per cent of Qantas domestic flights were cancelled in July, slightly lower than June’s result of 3.3 per cent.
Jetstar was severely impacted by the global Crowdstrike outage with close to 150 flights cancelled as a result. In total, 3.7 per cent of Jetstar’s domestic flights were cancelled in July and 65 per cent of flights departed on time.
Comments from a Qantas spokesperson:
“Our punctuality for the month was our best July result since 2021 and shows we’re continuing to climb back towards long-term averages. Over the past four months, almost 80 per cent of Qantas flights have departed on time.”
Comments from Jetstar Chief Operating Officer Matt Franzi:
“We had some significant operational challenges during July but our cancellation rate remained low, with just 3.7 per cent of domestic flights cancelled.
“The Crowdstrike software outage affected services and companies across the globe and it was a challenging day for our operation that resulted in significant disruption.
“Once our systems were back up and running, our teams were able to reaccommodate everyone affected by this incident.
“As a result of Crowdstrike and some poor weather conditions, our on time performance decreased from past months to 65 per cent of flights departing on time.
“Despite these challenges, our teams continue to work hard to make sure that our flights are on time for our customers.”
