Will chronic flight delays ever ease up – or is this the new normal?

Ayesha de KretserSenior reporter

It’s been a year of growing frustration among the flying public as stubbornly high flight cancellations and poor on-time performance numbers – and the cost of travelling – all failed to fall.

Just 64 per cent of domestic flights were on time last month, an improvement of 2 per cent from a year earlier, and well below the long-term average of 81 per cent. The number of flights cancelled, meanwhile, has also remained high at some 3.7 per cent in November. That’s nearly double the long-term average, according to statistics published by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE).

Virgin Australia achieved the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals among the major domestic airlines that month, just 54.2 per cent, with Jetstar the highest at 67.8 per cent and Qantas at 62.5 per cent, the figures show.

As the spectre of regulatory retaliation rises, the airlines are urging the federal government not to invoke a knee-jerk reaction to what they say are short-term problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, Transport Minister Catherine King will have to consider what policies and rules are needed in the aviation sector as part of a long-running government review.

There has been a decided lack of appetite to act on competition in the aviation sector dominated by Qantas, which holds 65 per cent of the domestic market, in partnership with its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar. Virgin is much of the remainder, while Regional Express and Bonza, a new airline which began flying this year, combined account for less than 5 per cent.

Some industry analysts suggest it is this lack of competition, rather than the lingering impact of the pandemic, driving the poor on-time performance. Many can’t shake suspicions that airlines are trying to reset the bar for service lower following the biggest shock aviation has suffered since the September 11 terrorist attacks more than a decade ago.

The airlines, meanwhile, point to understaffing at air traffic control and the difficulty of getting staff and crucial parts as reasons why delays haven’t lifted. In one day in June, for instance, Qantas experienced more than 100 delays and 10 cancellations because the airspace near Brisbane was closed due to a lack of air traffic controllers.

“The increase in delays and cancellations the industry has seen has been in large part attributable to events outside airlines’ control, including weather and air traffic control issues, but there is a lot that is within our control, and we are focused on turning those around,” says Qantas’ head of operations, Daniel Dihen.

“We know how important it is for our customers to get to their destination on time, and we are focused on that happening a lot more often.”