Qantas scores one of aviation’s biggest comebacks

Three years ago, Qantas was ranked 106th globally for punctuality. It topped the world in June.

According to global aviation data provider OAG, Qantas records best on time performance Of the 22,617 flights by any major airline in June, 87.16 percent arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.

This pushed Colombia’s Avianca to second place, while IndiGo, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Pegasus Airlines rounded out the top five. For an airline that spent much of the post-pandemic period synonymous with delays and cancellations, it’s an outcome that would have seemed impossible not long ago.

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From lowest to number one in the world

The years following the pandemic were difficult for Qantas in many ways, beyond punctuality. Staff shortages, grounded aircraft, airport congestion and a surge in passenger demand for which no one was fully prepared created a miserable period for passengers, at the same time as airfares were rising rapidly. The reputational damage was real, and it took time to recover.

Since taking over as chief executive in 2023, Vanessa Hudson has made operational reliability the clearest priority of her tenure. The approach has been methodical rather than dramatic.

Qantas brought in artificial intelligence to improve the way it manages daily operations, changed turnaround procedures on the ground, tightened crew and aircraft allocations, began boarding some planes through two doors to cut turnaround times and continued to move forward with its $15 billion fleet renewal program.

Newer Airbus A220s and A321XLRs are replacing older, less reliable aircraft across the network.

The results have been consistent rather than increasing one month at a time. Qantas has featured in OAG’s global top three in five of the last six months, with June delivering its strongest single result to date. Internal data also indicates that the airline is on track for its best domestic punctuality performance since 2017.

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what comes next

The timing of the milestone matters, but so does the context around it.

Qantas is still facing significant cost pressures, with higher fuel prices linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East expected to add about $800 million to expenses in the second half of the 2026 financial year. Long flight routing around restricted airspace is adding further pressure to international operations.

Qantas Domestic chief executive Marcus Svensson has made clear that reliability remains a core priority despite increasing external pressure, suggesting the airline is not treating the June result as the bottom line.

Punctuality in aviation works the same way as delays. Each plane that arrives on time makes it easier to manage its next departure, and each disrupted rotation creates problems that impact the entire day’s schedule. It’s really hard to run an operation cleanly and it’s quite difficult to maintain.

Going from 106th to number one is the kind of transformation worth writing about. Whether Qantas can maintain that position in the financially stressed second half of the year is the more interesting question now.