Qantas has been crowned the most on-time major domestic airline for the third straight year in the latest official Australian aviation statistics released today.

Data released today by the Federal Government’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) for June meant Qantas’ on-time departure performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2012 was 84.4 per cent for 119,636 domestic sectors flown.

Qantas Domestic Chief Executive Officer Lyell Strambi said this was a remarkable performance considering the disruptions to hundreds of flights caused by union industrial action last year.

“Qantas’ consistent on-time performance has contributed to Qantas reaching the highest level of customer satisfaction in three years," Mr Strambi said.

“Our passengers and frequent flyers tell us one of the main reasons they choose to fly with Qantas is they get to their destination on-time far more often than with other airlines.

"Across the airline - from our Integrated Operations Centre and our engineers, to our airport employees, pilots and cabin crew - everyone is focused on working together to deliver the very best on-time performance.”

On-Time Departures for major domestic airlines* for 12 months to 30 June 2012:

Airline Departure within 15 minutes
Qantas 84.4%
Virgin Australia 82.9%
Jetstar 76.4%
*Jet operations of greater than 10,000 sectors.