Air New Zealand wins silver in Asia-Pacific on-time performance – Australian Aviation

Victor Pody shot this Air New Zealand 787-9, ZK-NZL.

Air New Zealand was Asia-Pacific’s second most on-time airline in 2025, with both Qantas and Virgin Australia also placing in the region’s top 10.

The Kiwi carrier saw 79.29 per cent of its flights arrive on time last year, data from analyst Cirium has revealed, placing it behind only Philippine Airlines (PAL) at 83.12 per cent. Virgin and Qantas placed eighth and ninth in the Asia-Pacific region, respectively.

According to Cirium’s Asia editor, Ellis Taylor, Air New Zealand – which placed fourth in the region for 2024 – had “delivered a significant improvement despite grappling with engine issues that have at times grounded up to six aircraft across its Airbus A320neo family and Boeing 787 fleets”.

“It appears to have proactively managed those issues by adjusting its schedule, and keeping overall capacity flat, while also bringing in wet-leased capacity towards the end of the year,” he said.

The airline has welcomed the result, with chief commercial officer Scott Wilkinson saying it is “pleasing to see Air New Zealand recognised by independent industry data as one of the top on-time performers in the Asia Pacific”.

“Getting our customers where they need to be, safely and on time, is our top priority. Over the last 12 months, we have made significant investments in reliability, and while there remains more to do, it is great to see positive momentum,” he said.

“Our entire team remains focused on performance and looks forward to delivering further improvements for our customers over the course of 2026.”

In Australia, last year saw Virgin Australia re-enter the top 10 for the region with 76.54 per cent on-time arrivals, narrowly beating Qantas at 76.51 per cent.

“Both carriers appear to have benefited from adding new aircraft that has limited capacity growth but built in greater network resilience,” said Taylor.

“In the case of Qantas, it has been growing back its international capacity as the last of its Airbus A380s re-entered service, while it, too, tapped wet-leased aircraft from Finnair.”

The result came after the Qantas network beat Virgin in domestic on-time performance in November, with 70.1 per cent on-time arrivals and 72.9 per cent on-time departures to Virgin’s 67.2 and 70.5 per cent, respectively, though Virgin still led on completion rate, 98.5 per cent to 96.3.

A Virgin spokesperson said the carrier was “pleased to have achieved the lowest cancellation rate of the major Australian domestic airlines from January through to November 2025 based on data published by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE)”.

“These results reflect our team’s focus on continuous improvement and delivering a stable and reliable operation for our guests.”

Jetstar had been the worst performer of the month, likely due at least in part to the impact of late November’s A320 grounding, with 64.8 per cent on-time arrivals, 64 per cent on-time departures, and 4.7 per cent cancellations.

Globally, Aeromexico was named by Cirium as the most on-time carrier in the world for the second year running, with 90.02 per cent on-time arrivals, while Qatar Airways received the “platinum award”.

According to Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen, the aviation industry last year “responded with excellence” to a “constantly shifting landscape” of supply chain issues, surging demand, and volatile weather.

“Maintaining consistent on-time performance requires sophisticated network planning, operational coordination, and the ability to recover quickly when irregularities occur. These results reflect the operational discipline that defines aviation’s top performers,” he said.

Qantas and Virgin Australia have been contacted for comment.