As a travel writer, I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit waiting for delayed flights. I know Sydney’s domestic airports better than my local Woolies layout, and I’ve probably walked a half-marathon pacing up and down the terminals. All the waiting has given me plenty of time to ponder which airline is most likely to delay my flight – and it looks like my guess (Qantas) is spot on. The Flying Kangaroo has just landed on a new list of the world’s ten most delayed airlines for 2025.
To compile the ranking, flight tracking app Flighty analysed data from 22 million flights, covering a mega 78 million hours of air travel. Planes were considered delayed if they arrived 15 minutes or more past their scheduled ETA, with travellers collectively spending 1.4 million hours waiting around for late take-offs.
Overall, Ryanair, Air France and easyJet topped the list as the most-delayed airlines of 2025, all with almost one-third of flights (29 per cent) departing late. American carrier Frontier Airlines followed closely behind, with 28 per cent of flights taking off after the 15-minute mark, while German airline Lufthansa rounded out the top five at 26 per cent.
Only one Aussie airline made the global top ten, with Qantas coming in sixth after 26 per cent of flights were delayed between January and November 2025. That's only slightly above the industry standard, where delayed flights average 22 per cent and global wait times sit at around 23 minutes. And let's be real – any airline that throws in free snacks and onboard Wi-Fi is a winner in my books.
Recent figures also suggest Qantas is lifting its game. According to the Federal Government’s October Airline On Time Performance report, Qantas recorded the highest on-time arrival rate of any domestic airline, with 81.1 per cent of flights arriving as scheduled.
The 10 most delayed airlines in the world for 2025
- Ryanair
- Air France
- easyJet
- Frontier Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Qantas
- KLM Royal Dutch
- Air Canada
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines