Virgin leads flight cancellation Ratios as domestic airlines struggle with staffing - Jul 4th to 10th 2022

[jakeseven7]

Virgin hardest hit by cancellations as staff shortage bites​

Shocking figures have revealed the severity of Australia’s aviation crisis after more than half of the domestic flights from the country’s two major airlines were delayed or cancelled last week.

From Monday to Sunday, Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of domestic flights and only 44 per cent of planes were on time.

During that same period, Virgin Australia cancellation rate was more than double that, coming in at 14.7 per cent of flights and 43 per cent of planes were on time.

Virgin Australia cancelled 15 to 20 per cent of its scheduled flights over the weekend, further complicating travel for passengers already fighting through crowded airports to get to their destination on time, as the spread of omicron sub-variants and a bad flu season made its schedule unworkable.

Virgin hard hit by cancellations as staff shortage bites

Virgin cancelled 15 to 20 per cent of its scheduled flights over the weekend, further complicating travel for passengers.

www.afr.com

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fbusiness%2Faviation%2Fqantas-and-virgin-domestic-ontime-performance-hits-near-record-low-with-delays-and-cancellations%2Fnews-story%2F35ec60a30fda859a777865f90218ab78&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-test-score&V21spcbehaviour=append

 

[jakeseven7]

Some pretty dire stories from passengers giving colour to the latest data on cancellations:

Cancelled flights throw Aussie airports into chaos​

Joe Branker has never hesitated to book a flight but you can understand why he's become an overnight fan of hire cars.

The Virgin Australia customer got to Melbourne Airport at 2pm on Sunday, only to have his flight cancelled.

By 7pm he was in the air but the plane was turned back to its starting point, and that's where Branker stayed.

"I slept on the floor," Branker revealed.

"There were lots of people sleeping on the floor."

Virgin gave Branker a seat on a 6am flight to Sydney and that's where we met him.

Cancelled flights throw Aussie airports into chaos

9now.nine.com.au

 

[jase05]

Unfortunately not much you can do when you have a shortage of staff due to Covid.
Lots of businesses starting to find it tough again.
Not sure when the madness will end

 

[jakeseven7]

And social media is alight as well / Virgin didn’t even have the staff available to book these people stranded accomodation as they cancelled flights. All airlines are clearly under the pump right now.

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[SCM]

Isn't it funny that not long ago there was fear that automation, machines and AI would replace humans and lead to mass unemployment - but yet here we are...

 

[flydoc]

A source I trust told me this morning that they’d met passengers who’d recently had their DRW-BNE flight cancelled. With full flights and accommodation booked out they had been put on the 21 hour Greyhound bus service from DRW to ASP, connecting to the VA ASP-ADL flight and presumably then on to BNE.
Quite the diversion but at least they are home.

 

[IrishPete]

Sunday evening flight with Virgin from Canberra to Brisbane was cancelled and most of our group of eight were put on the same flight on the Monday. So we missed a day of our training. Thanks Virgin.

And these weren't even cheap fares. They're taking the piss.

 

[AIRwin]

Sunday evening flight with Virgin from Canberra to Brisbane was cancelled and most of our group of eight were put on the same flight on the Monday.

My friend's mom was booked on the same flight and was moved to the 6:15 am flight on Monday instead...

 

[justinbrett]

So are people calling for VA's CEO to resign? No?

 

[bam71]

She’s busy at Wimbledon

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/david-thodey-dragged-into-john-barilaro-trade-row-jayne-hrdlicka-gets-prime-seat-at-wimbledon/news-story/085f54e54b8277b99ad1cac93e7a6cbb

 

[serfty]

I am having trouble finding how many flights were actually scheduled in that period but based on May figures the Ratios could indicate Qantas cancelled 210 flights and VA 260 in the seven days.

 

[straitman]

I am having trouble finding how many flights were actually scheduled in that period but based on May figures the Ratios could indicate Qantas cancelled 210 flights and VA 260 in the seven days.

More importantly though is how do the figures stack up moving forward?

 

[Melburnian1]

More importantly though is how do the figures stack up moving forward?

Agree that 'looking forward' is important, but the June 2022 punctuality and cancellation statistics issued by BITRE today were, in the main, worse for QFd than VAd:

Airline On Time Performance Statistics —Monthly

Summary of current month Complete monthly report

www.bitre.gov.au

It may not be fair to compare ZL due to limited frequency on 'jet' routes but it was the star regarding timekeeping.

QFd: appalling cancellation rates!

 

[jakeseven7]

So are people calling for VA's CEO to resign? No?

No she probably bullied them into submission

 

[justinbrett]

"Cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Melbourne route at 15.3 per cent"

So considering QF deliberately reduced capacity on this route, makes me wonder what they're using as their definition of cancellation.

Big difference having your flight cancelled a week prior and getting put on a flight 30 minutes later, vs having your flight cancelled and nothing else available to book (as a few threads on here have shown).