Air NZ v Jetstar: Monthly report shows which airline is more reliable

Monday, 11 November 2024

The Ministry of Transport has released its latest monthly report into the on-time reliability of Air New Zealand and Jetstar.

Across September, the overall on-time performance on the 12 routes covered by the report was 79.7% for on-time departures and 81.7% for on-time arrivals. Departures dipped slightly from August (80%) but arrivals were a shade better (81.3%) The cancellation rate was 1.2%, down from 1.6% the previous month.

The monthly performance report looks at the main domestic trunk routes between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown.

It only includes sectors where there is more than one airline operating on that route and does not feature regional and international routes.

Across September, Air NZ had a marginally better month with 80.4% for on-time departures, with Jetstar at 78%. For on-time arrivals, Air NZ had 82.1% with Jetstar at 80.6%.

But when it comes to cancellation rates, Jetstar performed better at 0.6% with Air New Zealand at 1.4%. A total of 44 flights were cancelled for the month across both airlines.

During September the route with the highest cancellations was Dunedin-Auckland, with 3.4% of services axed. September saw bad weather hit Dunedin, with the report saying the region “experienced winds exceeding normal operational limits, heavily affecting on-time performance for this sector”.

The best performing route was Wellington to Queenstown for both on-time departures (93.1%) and on-time arrivals (91.7%).

The monthly report was launched recently to offer scrutiny on the performances of the big players. Many other countries, including Australia, already publish such a report. It is hoped that regional and international routes will be included at a later date.