Virgin Australia has recorded the best on-time performance and highest completion rates of any major Australian airline for the month of April, highlighting what the carrier says is a strong trajectory and performance improvement over the last four months.

The carrier was the most reliable of the major domestic carriers in April 2024 according to new data released by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE), as operational performance returns to pre-COVID levels.

Virgin Australia achieved an on-time departures rate of 82.6 per cent and completed 98.3 per cent of flights in April. Virgin Australia cancelled only 1.72 per cent of its scheduled sectors for April.

It was Virgin Australia’s best result in two years for both on-time performance and cancellations and marks an improvement of 26.4 and 6 percentage points respectively since December 2023.

“We have been intensely focused on improving our performance whilst continuing to deliver great value and choice to Australian travellers,” said Virgin Australia CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka.

“April 2024 marked a return to pre-COVID levels of on-time performance and cancellations for Virgin Australia.

“The post-COVID recovery has been challenging for the aviation industry but it is promising to see reliability and on-time performance improve across Australian airlines.

“We know that on any given day various factors including weather, air traffic control, unscheduled aircraft maintenance, and crew resources can impact airline operations.

“But our ability to manage these disruptions has improved, while at the same time we have focused on simplifying our growing operation,” she said.