Australia’s domestic airlines have just about shaken off all of the dust and cobwebs from COVID-19, and with high airfares, full airplanes and greater than healthy profits, life is nice for bosses and shareholders. It is a 12 months because the sector, particularly the most important carriers, virtually melted down when it couldn’t handle the height Easter holiday period, so how are passengers faring now?
The airline’s monthly scorecard
Every month Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) produces an On Time Performance (OTP) report of the nation’s domestic airlines. At this early stage of our discussion, it’s price highlighting again that, for some obscure reason, aviation considers on time as anything that just isn’t greater than quarter-hour late, a model now adopted by food delivery drivers.
Photo: Ryan Fletcher I Shutterstock.
The airlines that currently provide the info are Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, which together carry greater than 95% of domestic passengers. The latest airline, Bonza, just isn’t on the scoreboard yet, and whether it joins this system stays to be seen.
The headline numbers are 71.8% of arrivals and 71.2% of exits occurred inside the on time window, and three.9% of all flights were canceled. While these are higher numbers than in 2022, they fall significantly wanting the long-term averages of 81.5%, 82.6% and cancelations of two.1%. In April 2019, the all-airline averages were 82.6%, 82.9% and 1.5%, respectively, which suggests Australia’s aviation industry still has loads of ground to make up by way of customer satisfaction and reliability.
Photo: Ryan Fletcher I Shutterstock.
It is sweet if the flight arrives or departs from the gate on the time it’s imagined to, but what’s more vital is that it operates in any respect. In that regard, should you want essentially the most probability of your flight actually happening then Rex is your best bet, as in April it had the bottom cancelation rate, just because it has done for many of the last twelve months. Last month Rex canceled 2.8% of its flights, ahead of Virgin Australia at 2.9%, QantasLink at 3%, Qantas at 3.6%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 5.6% and Jetstar at 8.1%
Chart: BITRE
The Golden Triangle
Pre-pandemic the route between Melbourne and Sydney was considered the second most profitable on the earth and stays the bottom of Australia’s Golden Triangle, the east coast routes between Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD) and Brisbane (BNE). Despite the predictions of its demise and substitute by Zoom, business travel, particularly between Melbourne and Sydney, has bounced back quickly.
Photo: Michael Doran I Easy Flying
Corporate and business travelers demand OTP and reliability, so it’s interesting to poke across the BITRE report back to see what happened to reliability on those routes in April. From Melbourne to Sydney Rex canceled 1.9% of its flights, Virgin Australia 7.4%, Qantas 9.4% and Jetstar 13.3%. From Melbourne to Brisbane the cancellation rates were Rex 1.4%, Qantas 3.7%, Virgin Australia 4.2% and Jetstar 18.3%.
OTP between Melbourne and Sydney showed that Rex flights arrived on time at 78%, Qantas at 73%, Virgin Australia at 67.7%, and Jetstar at 65%.
The interesting thing is that the overwhelming majority of Australians do not know about these statistics and have grown to simply accept that flights arrive and depart after they do, and there is not much you may do about it. Cancelations are a special matter, which is why Jetstar is suffering and desires to get its house so as before the summer holidays. But for reliability, the numbers don’t lie, and Rex comes out on top, for April anyway.
What do you’re thinking that of those performances? Tell us within the comments.