Jetstar had another month to forget after it was named the worst airline for delays in October and the second worst for cancellations.

The budget carrier last month blamed its poor performance on having to cancel numerous Bali flights following a number of freak events grounding its 787s, including “multiple” lightning and bird strikes.

However, updated BITRE figures from the Department of Transport show little improvement, despite Jetstar promising it would have all its Dreamliners back by early October.

On-time arrivals

1. Qantas — 74.2 per cent (5)
2. QantasLink — 74.1 per cent (2)
3. VARA — 73.7 per cent (3)
4. Rex — 68.3 per cent (1)
5. Virgin — 64.5 per cent (4)
6. Jetstar — 64.4 per cent (6)

On-time departures

1. QantasLink — 74.5 per cent (2)
2. Qantas — 73.1 per cent (5)
3. Rex — 70.5 per cent (1)
4. VARA — 69.2 per cent (3)
5. Virgin — 62.6 per cent (4)
6. Jetstar — 61.6 per cent (6)

Cancellations

1. Qantas — 1.2 per cent (4)
2. Rex — 2.2 per cent (2)
3. QantasLink — 3.0 per cent (3)
4. Virgin — 3.6 per cent (1)
5. Jetstar — 3.9 per cent (6)
6. VARA — 5.1 per cent (5)

The best and worst-performing airlines are shown above, while the worst-performing routes are ranked below. All data is for October 2022 with last month’s rankings in brackets. 

In better news for the wider group, Qantas completed a turnaround from being the worst airline in the country for cancellations to being the best.

The Flying Kangaroo was also the top-performing carrier for avoiding delays, with its on-time arrivals leaping from 66 per cent in September to 74 per cent in October.

The good news comes after a year when the national carrier has faced a string of problems, including huge delays at Easter, hours-long call wait times, and even a revelation that the cabin crew of a Qantas A330 were made to sleep across seats in economy.

Across the industry, school holidays led to the worst delays on record in April, June and July.

Qantas announced earlier this year the business would invest $200 million for the remainder of the financial year to roster additional crew, train new recruits and pay for overtime in contact centres.

It also said its new “conservative” approach to scheduling meant 20 per cent of its available seats would be left in reserve.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said, “It’s clear that maintaining our pre-COVID service levels requires a lot more operational buffer than it used to, especially when you consider the sick leave spikes and supply chain delays that the whole industry is dealing with.

“That means having more crew and more aircraft on standby and adjusting our flying schedule to help make that possible, until we’re confident that extra support is no longer needed.”

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• Source: https://australianaviation.com.au/2022/11/ranked-the-best-and-worst-airlines-for-delays-in-october/