Cancelled flights and delays: Australia's most (and least) reliable airlines ranked
Forget the big two: this tiny Aussie airline actually flies on time.
Lots can go wrong when you're catching a flight, from delays to cancellations and missed connections. But which airlines should you choose when reliability is key?
Provisional 2025 data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics reveals Australia's most punctual carrier (defined by arriving/departing within 15 minutes of schedule) was Hinterland, a Far North Queensland airline hopping between Cairns, Cooktown, Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw and Torres Strait.
Second was SmartLynx Australia (formerly named Skytrans) which flies from Sydney to Lord Howe Island and across the Cape York and Whitsunday Coast regions.
Coming in third was Qantas, followed by Virgin Australia in fourth. But while Qantas slightly outperformed Virgin on punctuality, Virgin maintained a significantly lower cancellation rate.
Bringing up the rear were Rex Airlines and Jetstar, in that order.
Hinterland and Skytrans operate far fewer flights than the others so it can be assumed this is why they scored so highly.
But when it comes to the carriers most people fly with, RMIT Aviation Academy senior manager, Justin Brownjohn, says the "flag carriers" are generally more reliable because they have more capacity in their fleets than the lower-cost airlines.
"They have a little bit more wiggle room in their schedules," he says, adding they can play "tetris" with their large fleets and schedules, making them more flexible.
Aviation Projects managing director Keith Tonkin notes that while weather and airport operations impact performance, they are beyond an airline's control. Getting people, baggage, freight, fuel and catering onto the aircraft are an aircraft's responsibility and "as long as you've coordinated them well ... you'll be able to you meet your on-time reliability requirements".
Travel writer and frequent flyer Matt Graham says reliability is "super important" and he picks airlines and even aircraft types accordingly. "My Flighty [app] stats tell me that I lost 28 hours to delays last year," he says.
He also picks airlines based on cancellations and resolving issues when there are disruptions.
"In general, I find Virgin Australia fairly reliable. For international flights, I've never had issues with Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines or All Nippon Airways. European airlines also tend to run on time more often as they have to pay financial compensation to passengers for delays over a certain amount of time," he says.
He says "when you fly a lot, you start to get a feel for which airlines make life easy for you when there are disruptions, and which make it hard. Jetstar unfortunately is in the latter category."
The route also matters. "I also find that Qantas cancels quite a lot of flights on routes like Sydney-Canberra and Sydney-Melbourne. They can at least rebook you on another flight fairly easily, but that window or aisle seat you carefully selected often becomes a middle seat when you get rebooked at the last minute," he says.
Airline Ratings CEO Sharon Petersen says international airlines are more difficult to compare in the reliability stakes because they are coming from different environments.
"Middle Eastern airlines, for instance, typically experience fewer weather disruptions than carriers such as Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong, which regularly contends with typhoons. As a result, Cathay Pacific may record more delays than Emirates, even if operational performance is otherwise comparable," she says.
She also says airlines offering multiple daily departures tend to be more reliable than those operating only one flight per day or just a few per week, as they are "more likely to have standby crew" and can "rebook passengers onto later services the same day".
My all-time favourite destination is ... Cornwall. From the giant seagulls to the blustery beaches, Cornish pasties and fishing villages, it stirs something romantic and seafaring in me.
Next on my bucket list is … Mongolia. I want to go somewhere really unique that feels totally foreign and challenges my way of life.
My top travel tip is … Don’t plan too much. Walk the streets and let it happen. And make sure you check out what’s within a few blocks of your hotel - sometimes the best local food is found that way.
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