Virgin Australia Regional Tops Punctuality Tables in December

23rd Jan 2017

According to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) was the most punctual airline in Australia for December. This is the second consecutive month that VARA tops punctuality table.

VARA achieved 87.3% on-time arrivals and was ahead of Qantas (83.5%) and Virgin Australia (83.1%), despite being 2.8% down from November.

The regional airline was also the most punctual when it comes to departures in December, managing 87.3% of on-schedule departures, or within 15 minutes of the schedule. Here too, the airline dipped from its results in November, this time by 2.9%.

Another regional carrier, Regional Express came on second when it comes to on-time departures with 86.6%, while Qantas was at third place with 85.6%.

Regional Express also had the least cancelations in December. Only 0.2% of its flights were cancelled. The carrier scheduled 5,633 flights and flew 5,620. VARA ended the month on second place with 0.7%. On the other side, Tigerair and QantasLink had the highest percentage of flight cancelations ? 2.8% each.

When it comes to LCCs, Tigerair had the highest percentage of on-time arrivals in the previous month (73.7%), followed by Jetstar (69%). When it comes to departures, the most punctual low-cost carriers were Tigerair Australia with 74.6% and Jetstar with 65.5%.

Meanwhile, travellers on the Townsville-Cairns route were the most likely to depart and arrive to their destination on time than any other in Australia. According to BITRE results for December, this route had the best performance in December with 97.7% on-time arrivals at Townsville and 98.9 departures from Cairns as well as 97.7% on-time arrivals at Cairns and 97.7% departures from Townsville.

Here are the figures for on-time arrivals and departures in December with change percentage from November:

Arrivals:

1. Virgin Australia Regional 87.3% (-2.8)

2. Qantas 83.5% (+2.6)

3. Virgin 83.1% (-0.3)

4. Rex 82.7% (-1.7)

5. QantasLink 81.8% (-0.9)

6. Tigerair 73.7% (-5.2)

7. Jetstar 69.0% (-3.4)

Departures:

1. Virgin Australia Regional 87.3% (-2.9)

2. Rex 86.6% (0.0)

3. Qantas 85.6% (+1.5)

4. Virgin 84.4% (-1.7)

5. QantasLink 82.4% (-0.9)

6. Tigerair 74.6% (+2.3)

7. Jetstar 65.5% (-4.0)