Melburnian1
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
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The March 2016 official BITRE domestic airline punctuality statistics have been published:
http://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/BITRE_OTP_Report_March_2016.pdf
In the measure that matters, 'on time arrivals' Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional beat Qantas and QantasLink. VA has been ahead of QF many times during the past 12 months but sometimes (as in March 2016) the difference in flight arrivals' timekeeping is not high. It also varies by route so checking the direction of travel and route in the above attachment can be interesting, although it is never a precise guide as to what may or may not occur on the day someone travels - it is merely an historical piece of information that gives us a clue as to which routes perform well timewise and which are poor.
QantasLink in particular has had a lot of problems out of Sydney operating punctually with many flights to ARM, CBR, PQQ and TMW adversely affected and to a lesser degree the ABX, DBO and WGA routes.
Bear in mind that an 'on time arrival' is defined as within 15 minutes of the schedule. This is an international standard but for shorter sectors such as Melbourne to Brisbane, it is pretty generous; adding to that is the padding that airlines routinely insert into their schedules. Typically for rail operators, a 70 minute suburban timetabled journey will count as 'late' if the train arrives five minutes or more late, which is only a third of the allowance that airlines receive in recording unpunctuality. Yet 70 minutes by air is almost MEL to HBA and certainly MEL to CBR, and not far from northbound MEL to SYD (85 minutes gate-to-gate.)
That notwithstanding, the high cancellation rate of QantasLink (2.5 per cent) and the across-all-airlines total cancellation rate for the SYD - CBR - SYD route (4.9 per cent in one direction, 4.8 in the other) were standouts.
While VA was easily the most punctual airline from MEL to SYD (northbound), its high cancellation rate of 4.4 per cent (QF's was also high, but not as bad, at 2.9 per cent) must be concerning. Southbound on this most important and popular route, cancellation rates were 3.2 per cent for VA and a still unacceptably high of 2.3 per cent for QF. 'Cancellations' are only recorded as such when they occur within a week of the scheduled date, and yet at times passengers a couple of weeks before flying may be moved to a new flight.
JQ just beat TT in both directions between MEL and SYD for punctuality but with both hovering around the 70 per cent mark it is not exactly an award winning performance from either. Having three in 10 flights that were more than 15 minutes late is unimpressive.
From BNE to SYD southbound, JQ was well and truly behind the other three. From MEL to HBA southbound, VA and TT were well ahead of JQ and QantasLink.
From SYD to DBO westbound, QantasLink was 15 percentage points in 'on time' arrivals behind ZL. From MEL to MQL northbound, QantasLink trailed VA and ZL.
From MEL to OOL northbound, VA and TT were also ahead of QF and JQ.
Australia-wide, JQ remains at the bottom of the four main airlines for punctuality. More and more it is 'the airline to avoid.' It appears that few AFFers use it or TT, possibly a reflection of how many users of such websites can be some of the more frequent patrons of airlines in Australia and also the more interested, so discernment is more likely than the average 'Joe Public' who flies twice a year if that.
Some routes that exhibit poor punctuality, such as MEL to BNK that is close to Byron Bay do not appear in the government statistics because there are not a minimum of two competing airlines. Yet on this route JQ often gives a flight the lowest priority should it have a choice as to which flight out of MEL to delay.
Similarly the AVV routes do not appear in the figures but JQ has quite a few problems such as late arrivals and cancellations between AVV and SYD in particular.
http://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/BITRE_OTP_Report_March_2016.pdf
In the measure that matters, 'on time arrivals' Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional beat Qantas and QantasLink. VA has been ahead of QF many times during the past 12 months but sometimes (as in March 2016) the difference in flight arrivals' timekeeping is not high. It also varies by route so checking the direction of travel and route in the above attachment can be interesting, although it is never a precise guide as to what may or may not occur on the day someone travels - it is merely an historical piece of information that gives us a clue as to which routes perform well timewise and which are poor.
QantasLink in particular has had a lot of problems out of Sydney operating punctually with many flights to ARM, CBR, PQQ and TMW adversely affected and to a lesser degree the ABX, DBO and WGA routes.
Bear in mind that an 'on time arrival' is defined as within 15 minutes of the schedule. This is an international standard but for shorter sectors such as Melbourne to Brisbane, it is pretty generous; adding to that is the padding that airlines routinely insert into their schedules. Typically for rail operators, a 70 minute suburban timetabled journey will count as 'late' if the train arrives five minutes or more late, which is only a third of the allowance that airlines receive in recording unpunctuality. Yet 70 minutes by air is almost MEL to HBA and certainly MEL to CBR, and not far from northbound MEL to SYD (85 minutes gate-to-gate.)
That notwithstanding, the high cancellation rate of QantasLink (2.5 per cent) and the across-all-airlines total cancellation rate for the SYD - CBR - SYD route (4.9 per cent in one direction, 4.8 in the other) were standouts.
While VA was easily the most punctual airline from MEL to SYD (northbound), its high cancellation rate of 4.4 per cent (QF's was also high, but not as bad, at 2.9 per cent) must be concerning. Southbound on this most important and popular route, cancellation rates were 3.2 per cent for VA and a still unacceptably high of 2.3 per cent for QF. 'Cancellations' are only recorded as such when they occur within a week of the scheduled date, and yet at times passengers a couple of weeks before flying may be moved to a new flight.
JQ just beat TT in both directions between MEL and SYD for punctuality but with both hovering around the 70 per cent mark it is not exactly an award winning performance from either. Having three in 10 flights that were more than 15 minutes late is unimpressive.
From BNE to SYD southbound, JQ was well and truly behind the other three. From MEL to HBA southbound, VA and TT were well ahead of JQ and QantasLink.
From SYD to DBO westbound, QantasLink was 15 percentage points in 'on time' arrivals behind ZL. From MEL to MQL northbound, QantasLink trailed VA and ZL.
From MEL to OOL northbound, VA and TT were also ahead of QF and JQ.
Australia-wide, JQ remains at the bottom of the four main airlines for punctuality. More and more it is 'the airline to avoid.' It appears that few AFFers use it or TT, possibly a reflection of how many users of such websites can be some of the more frequent patrons of airlines in Australia and also the more interested, so discernment is more likely than the average 'Joe Public' who flies twice a year if that.
Some routes that exhibit poor punctuality, such as MEL to BNK that is close to Byron Bay do not appear in the government statistics because there are not a minimum of two competing airlines. Yet on this route JQ often gives a flight the lowest priority should it have a choice as to which flight out of MEL to delay.
Similarly the AVV routes do not appear in the figures but JQ has quite a few problems such as late arrivals and cancellations between AVV and SYD in particular.
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