We all suspected it – now we have new data that backs up the claim the Brisbane to Mount Isa route is officially the worst in Australia, especially when it comes to arrival punctuality.
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New data shows two in every five flights on the route arrive late with your chances of arriving late on Virgin rising to one in two.
The data comes from the government department known Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) which tracks the performance and punctuality for major routes in Australia and its latest report dated March 2018 is not good reading for North West Queensland.
Mount Isa-Brisbane was the least reliable route for arrivals tracked by BITRE with just 58.6 percent of flights arriving on time.
In comparison the best routes in the country Perth-Darwin managed 94.9 percent on time arrivals.
The news is slightly better on departures with 70.8 percent of Isa flights leaving on time, the worst was the Sydney to Port Macquarie route with just 63.8 per cent.
The Mount Isa data shows that for the month of March there were 70 flight arrivals, 52 by QantasLink and 18 by Virgin (the data does not show if the flight was actually an Alliance flight).
QantasLink arrived on time 32 times for a percentage of 61.5% while Virgin missed their arrival nine out of 18 times – every second flight.
As for departures, there were 72 flights departures on that route, 55 by QantasLink and 17 by Virgin (it is not clear from the report why there is a discrepancy between the number of departures and arrivals).
Virgin were better in this department with 15 of their 17 Virgin departing on time.
But only 36 of the 55 QantasLink flights on the Brisbane-Mount Isa route flew out on time, just 65.5 percent.
What makes it worse is that BITRE define any flight as on time even if it is up to 15 minutes late leaving or arriving.
Sadly there was no data for Mount Isa – Townsville or any of the routes served by Cloncurry Airport in the report.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
