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As a frequent flyer, one of my biggest pet peeves is delayed flights. There’s nothing worse than being trapped in the airport, knowing you could be wandering city streets or strolling on the sand at your arrival destination. If flight delays drive you mad too, it might be time to put your loyalty behind Qantas. New data reveals the Flying Kangaroo is currently Australia’s most punctual major airline – and the third most on-time globally.
After unveiling the world’s ten most popular flight routes last year, aviation analytics company OAG has pulled new data to reveal the most on-time airlines for 2026 so far.
Of the 22,676 flights Qantas operated last month, an impressive 83.32 per cent took off on schedule. That makes it the world's third-most punctual airline among carriers operating more than 20,000 flights per month – and the most on-time airline in Australia.
China Southern Airlines claimed the crown as the world’s most punctual airline, with 89.4 per cent of flights departing on time, followed by competitor Hainan Airlines at 87.92 per cent.
In the ‘large airlines’ category – carriers operating between 10,000 and 20,000 flights per month – Virgin Australia International landed tenth, with an on-time performance rate of 82.48 per cent. That’s a mere 0.84 per cent behind Qantas and a notable flip from a 2025 on-time airline ranking, where Virgin edged out Qantas to take eighth place, leaving its competitor in ninth.
It’s worth noting that Virgin’s flight cancellation rate of 0.82 per cent was far lower than Qantas’ 2.18 per cent – and let’s be honest, most travellers would rather be delayed than stuck with a cancelled flight.
Can Qantas keep up its on-time performance? We'll have to wait for the February results to find out.
The world’s 10 most on-time major airlines for January 2026
- China Southern Airlines
- Hainan Airlines
- Qantas Airways
- Azul Airlines
- China Eastern Airlines
- Latam Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- Alaska Airlines
- Avianca
- All Nippon Airways