Qantas Unveils Massive Discounted Fares on 1 Million Flights

A fisherman stands on rocks as Qantas Airlines and Virgin Australia Airways planes travel down the runway at Sydney International Airport on June 7, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP) Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images

Qantas has launched one million seat discounts to more than 60 domestic destinations across Australia.

Travellers taking off between July 29, 2024, and March 26, 2025, can nab seats for as low as $109 (US$72) if they book a one-way trip from Sydney to Ballina or Sydney to Gold Coast.

Some of the flight deals on offer include flights from Sydney to Coffs Harbour (from $129), Sydney to Melbourne (from $145), and Sydney to Adelaide (from $179).

For comparison, Virgin Australia flights from Sydney to Adelaide start from $139 while a Jetstar flight for the same route is available from $111.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics released its latest airline performance statistics (pdf) for all routes on June 24.

The report reveals 79.4 percent of Qantas planes (including Qantas and QantasLink) arrived on time in May 2024, with Virgin coming in close at 77.7 percent.

Further, 80.6 percent of Qantas planes took off on time, while 78.9 of Virgin planes were punctual launching to the sky.

Rex Airlines achieved 77.1 percent of on-time arrivals and 80.1 percent of on-time departures, while Jetstar recorded 79.1 percent of on-time arrivals and 76.6 percent for departures.

North Queensland airline Hinterland Aviation topped the list of on-time arrivals at 83.8 percent and the most on-time departures at 90.2 percent.

Commenting on these results, Qantas chief customer and digital officer Catriona Larritt said, “We’ve been working hard to ensure our customers get to their destinations as quickly as possible and we are now closing in on the levels we had before the pandemic.”

Which Airline Has The Lowest Cancellation Rate?

Rex Airlines and Hinterland had the lowest cancellation rate at 0.8 percent, followed by Jetstar at 1.1 percent and Virgin Australia at 2 percent.

Qantas cancellations were 3.2 percent, while Skytrans recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 7.7 percent.

Virgin’s regional brand, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, recorded 6.1 percent of cancellations compared to Qantas’ regional brand QantasLink at 2.2 percent.

In terms of locations, cancellations were the most prevalent on the Melbourne to Sydney route at 6.5 percent, followed by the Sydney to Melbourne route at 6.3 percent and Kalgoorlie to Perth and Canberra to Melbourne routes at 5.1 percent.

What About Flight Routes And Airports?

The Townsville to Cairns route had the highest percentage of punctual arrivals at 94.8 percent, along with on-time takeoffs at 95.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Darwin to Perth had the lowest percentage of punctual arrivals at 44.6 percent, while Hamilton Island to Sydney had the least on-time departures at 41.9 percent.

Looking at airports, Port Lincoln topped the list of punctual arrivals (92.1 percent), and the highest percentage of on time departures (91.3 percent).

Darwin Airport was where a plane was most likely to leave late, with slightly more than half departing on time, while Gladstone Airport was where a plane was most likely to arrive late, with only about two-thirds arriving on time.

Rex, Virgin Open New Flights

In May, Rex Airline announced it would launch its first domestic flights from Melbourne and Adelaide into Perth from June 28.

The airline offered $99 flights over a 48-hour time period on June 20 to celebrate the inaugural flights.

“Every time Rex enters a new domestic market there has been downward pressure on airfares, so our message to Australians is, if you want competition, all you have to do is support it,” John Sharp, the airline’s chairman, said.

Early in June, Virgin announced new flights between Melbourne and Uluru. To coincide with this news, the airline launched a sale with fares from just $129 one way to the Red Centre for passengers on economy class travelling from June 6 to Sept. 12.