- 8% of flights cancelled or delayed (1,419 flights cancelled and 11,812 flights delayed)
- More than 1,400 flights were cancelled in January leaving tens of thousands of Australians scrambling to fix their travel plans.
- The Virgin group reported 633 cancellations and Qantas group (including Jetstar) reported 672 cancellations.
Nearly thirty percent of flights were either cancelled or delayed across the January holiday period, showing there has been no improvement in the on-time performance of Airservices Australia over the past 12 months, according to data released by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Senator Bridget McKenzie said Australian travellers were left stranded in airport terminals across the country in the busy holiday period as the Albanese Government delayed announcing reforms to Sydney Airport or Airservices Australia that would improve service standards across the industry.
“Yesterday Labor announced changes to Sydney’s airport slot system, the changes fall well short of what is needed to significantly improve cancellations and delays experienced by Australian travellers every day,” Senator McKenzie said.
“The Albanese Labor Government’s failure to implement reforms to the industry, which have been sitting on the Minister’s desk for almost two years now, with Australians continuing to see a high level of flights cancelled or delayed across the entire aviation network.”
Labor’s failure to fix the crisis in Airservices Australia which is continuing to cause chaos on our largest and most travelled routes, with the ‘Golden Triangle’ seeing persistently high rates of cancellations.
One airline delivered eye-watering cancellations on Brisbane-Melbourne-Sydney triangle, with 13.6 per cent of Melbourne-Sydney flights, 10 per cent of Brisbane-Melbourne flights and 9 per cent of Sydney-Brisbane flights cancelled.
Appearing before Senate Estimates RRAT Committee last week, Airservices Australia CEO, Jason Harfield admitted that, despite having 948 air traffic controllers, just two taking unplanned leave that day caused hours of delays and cancellations across the country.
“Poor accountability and management of Airservices Australia is failing to provide travelling Australians with a safer, more affordable, and reliable aviation system,” Senator McKenzie said.
“Labor must address the litany of failures happening under Mr Harfield’s leadership at Airservices Australia,” Senator McKenzie said.
“If Labor’s Transport Minister was serious about fixing the nation’s chronic cancellations and delays she would not accept the reappointment of the Airservices Australia CEO, which is sitting on her desk right now.”
Domestic Aviation Industry – On Time Performance
| January 2024 | January 2023 | Pre-Covid Long Term Average | |
| Delayed arrivals | 26.6% | 23.3% | 17.85 |
| On time arrivals | 73.4% | 76.7% | 82.2% |
| Cancellations | 3.1% | 3.1% | 1.5% |
| Cancelled flights | 1,419 | 1,381 | n/a |
Source: BITRE Domestic Airline On Time Performance: January 2024, January 2023, January 2020. www.bitre.gov.au