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Virgin Australia completed more than 99 per cent of flights last month, with its regional arm again not cancelling any flights at all.
Australia’s second largest airline group cancelled just 0.8 per cent of flights in December 2025 according to new BITRE data, compared to 2.4 per cent of Qantas red-tail services and 1.9 per cent of Jetstar flights. In total, 1.9 per cent of all flights were cancelled for the month.
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The figures came after a turbulent December for the industry as a whole, including air traffic control shortages at Sydney Airport and storms along the eastern seaboard.
Across all participating airlines, 73.8 per cent of flights arrived on time and 74.5 per cent departed on time, below long-term averages of 80.5 per cent and 81.6 per cent respectively, though cancellations beat the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.
According to Virgin Australia’s general manager, Integrated Operations Centre, Danny Norman, the result capped off a “record year” of over 22 million passenger movements with an average completion rate of 98.3 per cent across scheduled domestic flights.
“This strong performance was delivered during Virgin Australia’s busiest December on record, and our busiest year overall,” he said.
“We also improved our departure on‑time performance for scheduled domestic flights in December compared to the previous month and remain focused on continuing to lift it further.
“These results are due to the dedication of our incredible team, who work tirelessly to get our guests where they need to go safely and on time.”
Qantas and QantasLink continued to lead Virgin Australia and VARA in on-time performance, with 76.2 per cent on-time arrivals and 77.3 per cent on-time departures compared to Virgin’s 73.4 per cent and 74.3 per cent respectively.
The Flying Kangaroo says it has now been the most on-time major domestic airline in Australia for the last seven months in a row, and has been continuing initiatives to improve reliability.
“There’s been a lot of effort behind the scenes to make sure more flights depart on time and customers are now seeing the difference when they fly with us,” a spokesperson said.
“We helped get tens of thousands more customers away on time in December compared to last year, which makes a real difference during one of our busiest travel periods.”
On-time arrivals (per cent)
- All airlines – 73.8
- Qantas and QantasLink – 76.2
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 73.4
- Hinterland – 85.3
- QantasLink – 76.8
- Qantas – 75.2
- Virgin Australia – 73.5
- Rex – 72.4
- SmartLynx Australia (formerly Skytrans) – 69.0
- Jetstar – 68.3
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 58.0
On-time departures (per cent)
- All airlines – 74.5
- Qantas and QantasLink – 77.3
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 74.3
- Hinterland – 89.8
- Qantas – 78.5
- QantasLink – 76.6
- Rex – 75.6
- Virgin Australia – 74.5
- SmartLynx Australia (formerly Skytrans) – 69.0
- Jetstar – 66.2
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 57.3
Cancellations (per cent)
- All airlines – 1.9
- Qantas and QantasLink – 2.4
- Virgin Australia and VARA – 0.8
- QantasLink – 3.0
- Rex – 2.3
- Jetstar – 1.9
- SmartLynx Australia (formerly Skytrans) – 1.8
- Hinterland – 1.7
- Qantas – 1.4
- Virgin Australia – 0.9
- Virgin Australia Regional Airlines – 0.0
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