Grounded in regional Australia: These airports have the most flight delays

If you're a regular passenger on Australia's domestic airline routes you know how frustrating it is when flights are delayed.

So, how do regional Australia's airports perform compared to our capital cities?

The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics ranks Australia's airports based on their on-time performance. That is the percentage of flights that leave and arrive at the airport "on time" which is defined as within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.

In December 2024, Perth Airport had the lowest number of flights arriving on time (65.4 per cent) among capital cities and Hobart had the lowest percentage of flights leaving on time (60.7 per cent).

Across regional Australia, the biggest losers were Mount Isa with 59.6 per cent of flights arriving on time and Broome with only 39.7 per cent of flights leaving on time.

At the other end of the spectrum, Darwin was the capital city that performed the best for arrivals (80.9 per cent) while Melbourne and Canberra tied for the top spot with 74.9 per cent of flights leaving on time.

Regional airport Devonport performed well, topping the list of on-time arrivals with 85.7 per cent, while Mildura outdid all airlines with an on-time departure rate of 90.4 per cent.

If you were flying between Broome and Perth in December, you might have reached peak frustration, as this route had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals (47.9 per cent) and on-time departures (39.7 per cent) across any route in Australia.

The popular Sydney to Melbourne route had a fairly high on-time arrival rate of 74.5 per cent and a departure rate of 71.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, airfares on Australia's major city routes rose in the three months to September 2024, when airlines made an average 13.3 per cent more revenue per passenger, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Domestic airline competition in Australia report for November 2024.

Since Rex suspended operations on major city routes, domestic seat capacity fell by 6 per cent to September 2024, and by 1.8 per cent compared to the year prior. Meanwhile, domestic passenger numbers have remained relatively stable, leading to fuller flights, ACCC said.

The commission said since Rex's withdrawal from major routes and fellow budget airline Bonza going into liquidation, there was no longer any route on Australia's domestic network serviced by more than two major airline groups.

"It may be some time before a new airline emerges as a serious third competitor, which is likely to result in higher airfares and reduced choice for consumers," the report stated.