Flights back at pre-pandemic levels for holiday season

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Flight delays are causing headaches for the millions of Australians travelling this holiday season. New figures show less than two thirds of flights arrive on time and cancellations remain stubbornly high.

Transcript

00:00 Long queues, lots of luggage and long waits. Welcome to silly season travel.

00:07 Bryce and Ruby had daughter Coda in tow when they discovered their flight was cancelled

00:13 ten minutes before check in.

00:14 Now I've got to go home, unpack everything, go buy everything again for her for another

00:18 day to come back again tomorrow.

00:20 It's a joke. Now we've got to get an $80 Uber back home.

00:25 Others were facing lengthy delays.

00:26 Virgin have cancelled flights, they don't know why. And our one o'clock flight is now

00:31 9.30 tonight.

00:32 The last two years I've flown with Virgin, every single time the flight has been cancelled

00:38 or postponed for some reason.

00:40 We just had enough, we just want to get home now.

00:43 New data shows the chances travellers will face Christmas delays and cancellations remain

00:48 high.

00:49 Just over 64% of domestic flights arrived on time last month, and nearly 3.7% were cancelled

00:54 - better than last year but far worse than average at just over 2%.

01:01 Of the major airlines, Virgin had the worst cancellation rate, followed by Qantas and

01:06 Jetstar.

01:07 Unions say ongoing shortages of ground staff and lack of pilots are to blame.

01:12 We need to make sure that those airlines are directing that money that they're making

01:16 in profit back to ensuring that services for the travelling public are sufficient.

01:20 Major airlines say they've scheduled extra flights over Christmas and summer to cope

01:25 with an estimated 12 million passengers who are expected to fly during December and January.

01:31 Qantas says it's also rostered on extra staff to cope with any potential sick leave.

01:37 Travellers are urged to be prepared and remain patient.

01:40 patient.

01:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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