NEARLY one in four Jetstar domestic flights departed late in the past year, making it the worst airline in Australia for late-running planes.

Submitted by Kareela H Hodgson on Thu, 01/08/2013 - 13:26

The low-cost carrier's big sister Qantas was the best when it came to on-time arrivals and departures for the fourth year in a row, a new report shows.

Virgin Australia was the second most likely airline to be on time, followed by Tiger Airways then Jetstar, according to the report from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport and Regional Economics.

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Jetstar spokesman Michael Scott said the airline was working to improve punctuality.

"We've been quite upfront that our on-time performance is not where we would expect it to be," he said.

"It's encouraging that some recent changes, such as the increased use of dual door boarding and refinements to our schedule, have led to improved performance over the past few months.

"Everyone at Jetstar is committed to building on these recent gains and delivering sustained punctuality for our customers."

Qantas domestic CEO Lyell Strambi said the airline was proud of its result and attributed it to everyone from the pilots and engineers to cabin crew and ground handlers.

"We can all be very proud that our hard work means more of our customers get to their meetings on time, get home for dinner and make their connecting flights to start their holidays," he said.

Nearly 85 per cent of Qantas flights left on time, 81 per cent of Virgin flights, 80 per cent of Tiger flights and 76 per cent of Jetstar flights.

Regional Express was the best regional airline with 86 per cent of planes leaving on time, followed by Virgin with 82 per cent, QantasLink with 79 per cent and Skywest with 77 per cent.

Overall 81 per cent of domestic flights departed on time in the last financial year and 79 per cent arrived on time.

The route from Hamilton Island to Sydney had the most late departures, with only 63 per cent of planes leaving on time, while Adelaide to Port Lincoln was the best at 91 per cent.

Passengers travelling from Proserpine in the Whitsundays to Brisbane were most likely to arrive late, with 63 per cent of planes on the route landing later than scheduled.

People flying from Adelaide to the Gold Coast were most likely to get to their destination on time.

Overall less than two per cent of scheduled flights were cancelled, with QantasLink and Virgin Australia's regional network suffering the most cancellations.

Cancellations were highest on the route from Karratha to Perth in Western Australia.