Virgin Australia, Rex top on-time stats for November

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Sydney Airport. (Seth Jaworski)

Virgin Australia claimed on-time honours for a second straight month in November, while Rex retained its position as the most punctual regional carrier.

Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed 89 per cent of Virgin’s domestic flights departed within 15 minutes of schedule in November, ahead of Qantas at 86.7 per cent, Jetstar at 83.3 per cent and Tigerair Australia at 82.9 per cent.

Virgin had trailed Qantas in the punctuality stakes for all of 2013 and most of 2014 before breaking through in October.

The John Borghetti-led Virgin was also the most on-time airline for arrivals in November, with 86.1 per cent of flights reaching the gate within 15 minutes of schedule. Qantas was second at 85.3 per cent, followed by Jetstar (83.1 per cent) and Tigerair (79.5 per cent).

The BITRE report breaks out Australian airlines’ performance for regional operations, with Regional Express (Rex) leading the pack at 90.4 per cent on-time departures and 87.2 per cent on-time arrivals.

Virgin’s regional unit, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, edged out QantasLink for both departures (89.6 per cent versus 87.1 per cent) and arrivals (87 per cent versus 85 per cent).

In terms of individual routes, carriers operating Adelaide-Gold Coast were a perfect 100 per cent for on-time departures in November.

Meanwhile, cancellations were highest on flights between Moranbah and Brisbane with a little over four per cent of scheduled services cancelled in both directions in November.