The domestic flight routes most likely to be cancelled

Saturday, 5 April 2025

Some domestic routes flown by the two main carriers were cancelled more than others in January.

The Ministry of Transport reports monthly on Air NZ’s and Jetstar’s domestic on-time performance (OTP) for jet services between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown, airports serviced by two airlines.

According to its latest report, Air New Zealand’s cancellation rate was 0.8% and Jetstar’s was 0.2%.

Jetstar’s head of New Zealand, Shelley Musk, said January was a busy month for summer travel and it cancelled only two flights.

Air New Zealand reported that its cancellations were mostly due to adverse weather and engineering-related issues.

Dunedin to Auckland had the highest cancellation rate with 1.8% of services cancelled. In January, there were 112 total flights on the route from the two airlines. Just two Air NZ flights were cancelled.

There were 481 flights from Wellington to Auckland in January. Five of them were cancelled, or 1%.

Christchurch to Auckland, Auckland to Christchurch and Auckland to Wellington each had four flights cancelled.

Of the 3611 total flights scheduled by the two airlines in January, 23 were cancelled, or 0.6%.

When it came to being on time, Air NZ had a better OTP than Jetstar, recording 83.5% for on-time departures, and Jetstar 80.7%. For on-time arrivals, Air NZ recorded 86% and Jetstar recorded 83.5%.

The airlines measured their OTP in different ways. Air NZ’s was based on whether the flight arrived at the gate no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. Diverted or cancelled flights do not count as on time.

Jetstar measured its OTP based on flights departing the gate within 15 minutes of the flight’s scheduled departure time.

The most on-time route in January was Wellington to Queenstown, with 94.3% of flights departing on time. It also had the highest arrivals OTP, with 95.5% of flights arriving on time.

In the year to February, Air New Zealand’s average OTP was 83.14%. Jetstar’s was 77.48%.

Musk said Jetstar cancelled just 1% of flights in the year to February 2025.

Jetstar has introduced measures to strengthen its reliability in recent years, including bringing forward check-in and bag drop times, hiring more team members and introducing dedicated aircraft turnaround managers at its busiest ports.

“Our pilots, cabin crew, airports and operations teams are working hard every day to ensure our flights depart on time, with safety always being our first priority,” Musk said.

Air NZ chief operating officer Alex Marren said it understood the importance of being on time for its customers.

“[W]e continue to invest in our people, training, fleet, and innovative technology to enhance the reliability of our operations.

“Over the past year, we’ve strengthened our network by adding three dry lease aircraft and have more new aircraft on the way.

“We're also implementing cutting-edge solutions, such as a paperless flight deck and advanced communication tools, to improve efficiency. Our frontline teams now use a new app to speed up aircraft turnaround, while enhanced dashboards in our operations centre enable faster decision-making and quicker recovery during weather disruptions.”

Marren said it was also managing its well-known engine challenges and has brought in extra maintenance support, expanding its engineering team and working to secure critical parts.

“These efforts are delivering strong results. Both our domestic and trans-Tasman operations continue to show consistent year-on-year improvements,” she said.

“Domestic performance improved by more than seven percentage points compared to last year, and Trans-Tasman was up by over eight percentage points - demonstrating solid operational gains.

“We appreciate our customers' patience and remain committed to getting them to their destinations as quickly and smoothly as possible.”