Jetstar Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Record Reliability

As Jetstar proudly celebrates its 20th anniversary, the airline has again demonstrated its commitment to a new era of enhanced reliability. According to the latest Federal Government figures, more than 80% of Jetstar’s domestic flights arrived on time, and 78.3% departed as scheduled in March. The airline’s cancellation rate also dropped to 1.5%, marking its lowest in almost five years, excluding periods of COVID restrictions when flight levels were significantly lower.

This is a significant achievement for the low-cost carrier, as it recorded its highest on-time arrival rate in over two years. Further emphasizing Jetstar’s reliability, 96.4% of flights arrived within an hour of the scheduled time in March.

During the month, Jetstar operated over 7200 flights, serving more than 20 destinations across its Australian domestic network. Qantas, which includes Qantas and QantasLink, also performed strongly in March, with 78.2% of its flights departing on time.

Jetstar’s consistent outperformance of its main domestic competitor for the fifth consecutive month in terms of on-time arrivals and lowest cancellations is a testament to its industry-leading reliability. The competitor recorded an on-time arrival rate of 75.4%, with 2.8% of flights cancelled during the month, further highlighting Jetstar’s superior performance.

The strong results follow improvements across the airline, including hiring over 1000 new team members, advancing check-in and bag drop times, and appointing dedicated on-time performance managers at critical ports. As part of a significant investment in new, more reliable, fuel-efficient, and quieter aircraft, Jetstar’s twelfth new Airbus A321neo LR aircraft is set to arrive next month. Jetstar continues to expand its network across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

Jetstar’s strong performance has continued despite some operational challenges, including disruptions in Jetstar’s storms in Sydney early in April.

Jetstar’s Chief Operating Officer, Matt Franzi, commented on the results, saying, “While these are strong results, we remain focused on further improving our operations and delivering a safe and reliable service for our customers every time they fly with us. 

“We’ve been working incredibly hard in recent months to better prepare for when things don’t go to plan, and it shows in these latest performance figures.  

“Bad weather, air traffic control restrictions, and unexpected aircraft maintenance can all cause problems with getting flights away on time, so our teams’ work is never done.”