Singapore Airlines has Asia’s best cancellations record. Virgin Australia, Qantas and Air New Zealand among the worst

Singapore’s flag carrier scrapped just 0.1 per cent of services between May and July, whereas Virgin Australia axed 5.9 per cent of its schedule

The aviation industry is struggling to keep up with a supercharged rebound in post-Covid bookings. Analysts say it may take months to recover

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A Singapore Airlines aircraft takes off behind another of the carrier’s planes at Singapore’s Changi Airport. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:04am, 3 Aug 2022

Passengers flying with Virgin Australia are suffering some of the biggest disruptions to travel as the understaffed aviation industry struggles to cope with a resurgence in demand, schedules show.

Zeroing in on a group of 19 airlines around the world – the same one Qantas Airways Ltd. uses to assess its performance against peers – Virgin Australia cancelled the biggest proportion of flights in the three months through July 26, according to data from analytics company Cirium. It axed close to 2,200 flights, or 5.9 per cent of its schedule, compared with 1.4 per cent in the same period in 2019.

Air New Zealand Ltd. and Sydney-based Qantas were also among the five airlines that cancelled flights most often in the period. Singapore Airlines Ltd. had the best record, scrapping just 0.1 per cent of planned services.

Virgin Australia cancelled the biggest proportion of flights in the three months through to July-end, according to analytics data. Photo: Bloomberg

A supercharged rebound in bookings as Covid-19 travel restrictions ease has overwhelmed even the largest and most established names in aviation. After laying off tens of thousands of pilots, flight crew, baggage handlers and security staff during the pandemic, the industry can’t hire fast enough to keep up. Analysts say it may be months before normal levels of service return.

The carriers assessed in the three-month period mirror those used by Qantas to benchmark its total shareholder return, according to the airline’s annual report. The group includes International Consolidated Airlines Group, owner of British Airways Plc and Iberia, and Qantas itself.

It is a relatively small cross-section of the world’s airlines, which means there may be other, lesser-known carriers with patchier performance records. The basket also excludes airlines from China, the world’s second-largest aviation market before Covid-19, but which remains largely closed to international flights.

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said the airline’s schedule has been disrupted by severe weather and up to triple the normal rate of crew sickness. “This certainly isn’t the experience we want our customers to be having with us and we know that every cancellation has an impact,” Foran said in a statement. The airline is hiring more than 1,000 staff to strengthen operational resilience, he said.