Plane terrible: More than a quarter of flights from Australia's major airports run late
- New figures revealed that 21.5 per cent of flights were delayed or arrived late
- Melbourne suffered most delays with around 35 per cent of flights arriving late
- Mackay Airport in Queensland was named the most punctual airport in Australia
- Close behind was Cairns airport with a 85.1 per cent rate of on time flights
More than a quarter of flights at Australia's major airports are now delayed, according to new figures.
Statistics released by air travel data network OAG revealed that 21.5 per cent of all Australian flights arrived late in November, last year.
While 23.6 per cent of flights were delayed from take off.
Melbourne Airport has the worst on-time performance with 35 per cent of flights arriving late, and 30 per cent taking off late.
Melbourne Airport has the worst on-time performance with 35 per cent of flights arriving late, and 30 per cent taking off late
Statistics released by air travel data network OAG revealed that 21.5 per cent of all Australian flights arrived late in November, last year (stock)
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Sydney Airport did not fare much better than Melbourne with a third of flights being behind schedule or arriving at least 15 minutes late.
Mackay Airport in Queensland was named the most punctual airport in Australia with 87 per cent flights on time.
Close behind was Cairns airport with a 85.1 per cent rate of on time flights.
Sydney Airport was almost 10 per cent behind Mackay Airport at 78 per cent, followed by Melbourne with 77.3 per cent and Hobart on 75.7 per cent.
Sydney Airport was almost 10 per cent behind Mackay Airport at 78 per cent
Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi told The Australian that the delays are 'not so bad' and travellers would sometimes have to change their plans to deal with the disruptions.
'When we experience delays, we're mainly looking at minutes, not hours,' he said.
'The most common disruptions to services relate to severe weather events, particularly fog, which is why we sought to install the right precision approach and landing system equipment to guide aircraft in low visibility conditions.'
Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff also told the publication that the weather is the biggest challenge which affects flights but there are also a number of reasons.
'Any flight may be delayed for a myriad reasons including late connections, baggage handling, mechanical issues, infrastructure failures, systems outages or a major emergency,' he said.
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