Qantas is reaching a depressing new low as the “most unreliable” domestic airline in Australia – performing even worse than fellow budget carrier Jetstar

Qantas has been ranked Australia’s least reliable domestic airline in a damning new survey.

The data comes from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics’ (BITRE) October “on-time performance report”, which showed the airline performed worse than Virgin and regional airline Rex over the month.

It also ranked lower than its low-cost sister airline Jetstar.

BITRE found Qantas canceled 4.3 per cent of its flights last month, more than Jetstar and Virgin Australia at 4.1 per cent, while Rex canceled just 2.3 per cent of flights.

When no flights were canceled, about two-thirds of Qantas planes landed or took off within 15 minutes of the expected time – well behind other major and rural airlines.

The survey follows a series of PR disasters for the airline in the wake of the Covid pandemic, including scathing criticism of its flight credit program and the upholding of a Supreme Court ruling that 1,700 workers were unlawfully dismissed.

Qantas has been ranked Australia’s least reliable domestic airline in a damning new survey

While the national carrier’s standards fell short of expectations, its rural carrier QantasLink was the best-performing airline when it came to departing and arriving on time on more than 70 percent of its flights.

The BITRE report found that the number of flight cancellations was well above the long-term average of 2.2 percent.

The arrival and departure times of flights were also “significantly” below the long-term average of 81.2 percent for arrivals and 82.3 percent for departures.

Qantas said in a statement that its operations were severely impacted by staff shortages and poor weather in October, and were not affected by strong winds or storms for just six days.

A further 42 flights were canceled during the month after pilots from Network Aviation, a Qantas subsidiary in Western Australia, walked off their jobs on October 4.

The strike, called by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots, canceled about half of Qantas’ regional flights and affected about 3,500 customers.

BITRE found Qantas canceled 4.3 per cent of its flights last month, more than Jetstar and Virgin Australia at 4.1 per cent, while Rex canceled just 2.3 per cent of flights

Qantas ranked lower than its budget sister airline Jetstar

“We know how important it is for our customers to leave on time and we are focused on ensuring we deliver the experience our customers expect,” Qantas told Daily Mail Australia.

The BITRE report is another blow to the struggling airline.

A decision upheld by the Supreme Court found that Qantas illegally outsourced 1,683 groundworker jobs in 2020.

In August, recently departed Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was harshly criticized at a Senate hearing. It discovered that the airline owed its customers $370 million in flight credits and planned to cancel them in October. Qantas later pushed back the deadline to the end of this year.

In September, Mr. Joyce, who oversaw the airline’s myriad scandals, left the company with a golden handshake valued at about $24 million.