Airline reliability: How New Zealand compares to other countries

Airlines competing on New Zealand domestic routes have been running closer to schedule than those across the Tasman and ahead of the biggest aviation market in the world, the United States.

In this country, Government-compiled figures show for September 2024, on-time performance (OTP) for all routes was 79.7% for on-time departures and 81.7% for on-time arrivals.

By airline, Air New Zealand recorded 80.4% for on-time departures (within 15 minutes of schedule) in September, and Jetstar 78.0%, Ministry of Transport figures show.

For on-time arrivals in September, Air New Zealand recorded 82.1% and Jetstar recorded 80.6%.

Air New Zealand’s cancellation rate was 1.4%, more than twice that of Jetstar’s 0.6%.

Air New Zealand operated about 80% of the 3568 flights for which figures were compiled – on main trunk jet routes where the two airlines compete directly.

But OAG figures comparing all 14,983 Air New Zealand flights (domestic and international) in October rank it in the 70th spot compared with 100 others. Air NZ had OTP of 74.5% and a cancellation rate of 3.96%.

Japanese regional carrier Fuji Dream Airlines was the most punctual, with 94.1% of flights on time, followed by Star Flyer, another Japanese airline, and then Oman Air.

Qantas was in the middle of the pack, ranking 52 in the overall OAG figures (80.45% of its 24,000 flights on time).

At the back were Jin Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier (59.7% OTP) in 99th, and Israel’s El Al (51.7%), followed by Portugal’s TAP, with less than half of its 10,300 flights running on time (46.3%) putting it at 101st.

Across the Tasman, OTP over all domestic routes operated by airlines (Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 75.5% for on-time arrivals and 76.1% for on-time departures. The cancellation rate for the month was 2.0%.

The larger number of airlines operated more than 10 times as many flights (45,000) and served many smaller regional airports. Like in NZ, the figures measure arrivals and departures within 15 minutes of schedule.

Australia’s on-time arrivals figure was lower than the long-term average performance for all routes (80.8 %) and the on-time departures figure was also lower than the long-term average (81.9 %). The rate of cancellations was lower than the long-term average of 2.2%, the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport said.

By airline in Australia, the Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 76.0% for on-time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines’ combined operations) recorded 73.0%.

In the United States, 75% of 647,000 domestic flights operated in August were on time, according to the Department of Transportation.

Hawaiian Airlines (86.8%) was the top performer, followed by Delta Air Lines (78.9%) and Southwest Airlines (78.8%). Southwest, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian had the lowest cancellations. The bottom three by OTP were JetBlue Airways (60%), Frontier Airlines (65.2%) and Spirit Airlines (67.1%). The three airlines also had the highest cancellation rate.

While New Zealand has made some progress in shining the light on airline performance this year, it still remains well behind the US, where for years its Department of Transportation has been releasing details on complaints about airline services, tarmac delays of more than three hours, the mishandled baggage rate, mishandled wheelchairs and scooters, over-sold planes and incidents involving animals (one died in August).

The US has cracked down on bad service by airlines under outgoing US President Joe Biden and they have paid out US$4 billion ($6.7b) in refunds and reimbursements to passengers.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.