Qantas has been rated the least reliable domestic airline in Australia in a damning new survey.
The data comes from the October ‘on time performance’ report by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), which showed the airline had performed worse than Virgin and regional airline Rex over the month.
It also ranked lower than it’s budget sister airline Jetstar.
BITRE found Qantas had cancelled 4.3 per cent of its flights across last month, more than Jetstar and Virgin Australia at 4.1 per cent, while Rex only cancelled 2.3 per cent of flights.
When flights weren’t cancelled, about two thirds of Qantas planes arrived or departed within 15 minutes of its expected time – well behind the other major and rural airlines.
The survey follows a series of PR disasters for the airline in the wake of the Covid pandemic, including scathing criticism of its flight credit program and the High Court upholding a ruling it illegally sacked 1700 workers.
Qantas has been rated the least reliable domestic airline in Australia in a damning new survey
While the national carrier’s standards fell short of expectations, its rural airline QantasLink was the best performing airline for departing and arriving on time on more than 70 per cent of its flights.
The BITRE report noted that flight cancellations were happening at a much greater rate than the long term average of 2.2 per cent.
Flights were also arriving and departing on time ‘significantly’ less than long term averages of 81.2 per cent for arrivals and 82.3 per cent for departures.
Qantas in a statement said their operations in October had been severely affected by staff shortages and bad weather, having only six days not impacted by heavy winds or storms.
A further 42 flights were cancelled during the month after pilots working for Network Aviation, a Qantas subsidiary in Western Australia, walked off the job on October 4.
The strike, called by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots, cancelled about half of Qantas’ regional flights and affected about 3,500 customers.
BITRE found Qantas had cancelled 4.3 per cent of its flights across last month, more than Jetstar and Virgin Australia at 4.1 per cent, while Rex only cancelled 2.3 per cent of flights
Qantas ranked lower than it’s budget sister airline Jetstar
‘We know how important it is for our customers to get away on time and we’re focused on making sure we deliver on the experience our customers expect,’ Qantas told Daily Mail Australia.
The BITRE report is yet another blow for the embattled airline.
Qantas was found to have illegally outsourced 1,683 ground workers’ jobs in 2020, in a decision upheld by the High Court.
In August, recently-departed Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was grilled at a Senate hearing where it was found the airline owed customers $370 million in flight credits and planned to cancel them in October. Qantas later moved the cut-off date to the end of this year.
In the September, Mr Joyce, who oversaw the myriad scandals plaguing the airline left the company with a golden handshake estimated to be about $24million.