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Australia’s domestic aviation system carried more passengers in 2025, but punctuality remained a stubborn weak point.

New analysis from iSelect estimates that more than 30 million passenger journeys were affected by delays or cancellations across 37 domestic airports during the year. It is an imposing figure, even for an industry accustomed to measuring its problems in millions.

Sydney carried the heaviest burden. The Australian Airport Delay Index estimates that 6,700,207 Sydney passenger movements were affected, including 5,883,872 linked to late departures and 816,335 linked to cancelled services.

Melbourne followed with 6,360,989 affected journeys, while Brisbane recorded 4,652,914. Together, Australia’s three major eastern hubs accounted for 17,714,110 disrupted passenger movements.

That is a formidable queue of missed meetings, shortened holidays, frantic gate changes and airport coffees bought with the grim resolve of travellers who have already heard the phrase “operational reasons” once too often.

There is, however, an important qualification.

The findings do not mean 30 million separate Australians were stranded. The figures are estimates of affected passenger movements, calculated by applying airport delay and cancellation rates to annual domestic passenger volumes.

One traveller may appear more than once during the year. The analysis therefore measures the broad scale of disruption rather than tracking each person, ticket or damaged itinerary individually. iSelect’s methodology uses passenger-volume data and on-time performance figures published by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, or BITRE.

Even with that qualification, the result is difficult to dismiss. Delays were not an occasional wrinkle around the edges of Australia’s domestic timetable. At several major airports, roughly one in four flights failed to depart on time.

Sydney tops the disruption count

Sydney handled 25.41 million domestic passenger movements in 2025, making it Australia’s busiest domestic airport.

According to the index, 23 per cent of Sydney departures were delayed, and 3.21 per cent were cancelled. Those rates produced the country’s highest estimated number of affected passenger journeys. BITRE’s aviation activity figures independently confirm Sydney’s 25.41 million domestic passenger movements for the year.

Melbourne was close behind. It handled 24.59 million domestic passenger movements, with 23 per cent of flights delayed and 2.66 per cent cancelled. Its estimated disruption count reached 6.36 million.

Brisbane placed third. About 24 per cent of its departures were delayed, and 2.52 per cent were cancelled, affecting an estimated 4.65 million passenger movements.

Brisbane’s year was also shaped by the severe weather surrounding Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March 2025. Flights across south-east Queensland were suspended or heavily reduced, with airlines progressively restoring operations on 9 March.

iSelect cites Brisbane Airport figures indicating that more than 140,800 passengers were affected during the event. The Bureau of Meteorology recorded damaging winds at Brisbane Airport as Alfred approached the coast.

The three airports dominate Australia’s domestic network, so their position at the top of the disruption count is not especially surprising. Volume matters. A moderate failure rate at a very busy hub can affect far more people than a dreadful day at a smaller airport.

Yet volume is not the entire story. The index also exposes airports where each individual traveller faced a proportionally higher risk of disruption.

Sunshine Coast records the highest delay rate

Sunshine Coast Airport recorded the highest delay rate among the top 10 airports.

Almost one in three departures, or 31 per cent, left late. That translated into an estimated 518,905 passenger movements affected by delays and another 20,370 linked to cancellations.

Sunshine Coast handled 1.69 million domestic passenger movements during 2025. Although it carried far fewer passengers than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, its high delay rate meant local travellers faced the greatest likelihood of a late departure among the top 10 airports.

Hobart was next on delay rate, with 27 per cent of departures running late. Gold Coast recorded 25 per cent, while Brisbane sat at 24 per cent.

Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Cairns each recorded a delay rate of 23 per cent. Perth was slightly better at 22 per cent, although “better” is perhaps doing some fairly strenuous work when more than one in five flights is still departing late.

Canberra presented a different problem.

Its delay rate was comparatively lower at 21 per cent, but it recorded the highest cancellation rate among the top 10 airports at 4.5 per cent.

The index estimates that 124,459 Canberra passenger movements were affected by cancellations. Delays and cancellations combined affected an estimated 714,390 passenger movements through the national capital.

A delay may bruise the diary. A cancellation can dismantle it altogether.

For business travellers, touring groups, families connecting to international flights and regional passengers with limited alternatives, the difference is considerably more than academic.

Australia’s 10 most disrupted domestic airports

Rank	Airport	Delay rate	Cancellation rate	Estimated affected journeys
1	Sydney	23%	3.21%	6,700,207
2	Melbourne	23%	2.66%	6,360,989
3	Brisbane	24%	2.52%	4,652,914
4	Perth	22%	1.46%	2,168,512
5	Adelaide	23%	2.03%	1,863,710
6	Gold Coast	25%	2.05%	1,471,940
7	Cairns	23%	0.96%	998,657
8	Hobart	27%	1.61%	816,667
9	Canberra	21%	4.50%	714,390
10	Sunshine Coast	31%	1.21%	539,275

Source: iSelect Australian Airport Delay Index, drawing on BITRE on-time performance and passenger-movement data.

What the official data says

The index draws on two official BITRE datasets: the 2025 annual on-time performance report and the 2025 domestic aviation activity report.

BITRE defines an on-time departure as a flight that leaves the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure time.

A flight is treated as cancelled when it is cancelled or rescheduled less than seven days before its scheduled departure. Cancellations are measured as a percentage of scheduled flights, while punctuality is measured against flights that operated.

Across the airlines and routes covered by its reporting program, BITRE recorded a national cancellation rate of 2.5 per cent in 2025. On-time departures across the major airline networks generally remained below 80 per cent.

BITRE’s domestic activity report also shows that Australian airports recorded 120.88 million domestic passenger movements during the year, an increase of 1.9 per cent over 2024.

Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane alone represented almost 56 per cent of domestic passenger movements at the nation’s leading airports.

Those official measures provide a sound statistical base, but the iSelect passenger-impact figures remain modelled estimates.

The calculation multiplies an airport’s delay or cancellation percentage by its passenger movements. It offers a useful picture of potential exposure, but it is not a precise count of unique people who received a delay notice, missed a connection or spent an unplanned evening examining the carpet at Gate 34.

That distinction matters, particularly in a market where frequent flyers may pass through the same airport several times each month. Still, the index offers the industry a practical view of the scale of the problem.

Travel insurance is not a magic boarding pass

Adrian Bennett, iSelect General Manager – General Insurance, said delays were a reality of air travel, especially at the country’s busiest airports.

“Delays are unfortunately a reality of air travel, particularly at Australia’s busiest airports where even small disruptions can affect thousands of passengers. Our analysis shows that millions of travellers were affected by delayed departures last year alone, underscoring the importance of allowing extra time when travelling, particularly during holiday and peak seasons.

“Travellers should consider travel insurance before departure, particularly if they’re flying during busy periods. Depending on the policy and circumstances, travel insurance may help cover unexpected expenses caused by travel disruptions, such as additional accommodation, lost luggage or transport costs if a delay or cancellation significantly impacts your journey.”

The operative words are “depending on the policy and circumstances”.

Travel insurance benefits, limits and exclusions vary. A late aircraft does not automatically trigger a payment. Travellers should examine the relevant product disclosure statement and consider whether a policy suits their personal needs before purchasing cover. iSelect also states that it does not compare every insurer or travel policy available in the market.

For travel advisers, the practical discussion should extend beyond insurance.

Clients should be encouraged to allow sensible connection times, avoid tightly packed same-day arrangements where possible, monitor airline messages and retain receipts when a disruption forces extra spending.

Business travellers should also examine the weakest point in an itinerary. A 35-minute domestic connection may look wonderfully efficient on paper, but paper has never had to sprint through an airport carrying a laptop, a jacket and the remains of its dignity.

Reliability remains the industry challenge

The index arrives as domestic aviation is once again carrying large passenger volumes.

That is welcome news for airlines, airports, tourism operators and the wider visitor economy. Growth, however, makes reliability more important, not less.

Airports and airlines must contend with weather, aircraft availability, crew limits, engineering needs, air traffic management and congestion. Not every delay can be prevented.

The commercial test is how quickly a disruption is contained, how clearly customers are informed and how fairly they are treated when their plans come apart.

Sydney’s position at the top of the index reflects both its vast scale and its disruption rates. Melbourne and Brisbane reveal the same network reality: when a major hub stumbles, the effects rarely remain confined to a single terminal.

A delayed aircraft may operate several more sectors that day. Crews and passengers may miss connections. Gates become scarce, schedules tighten and a small morning problem can acquire a rather impressive afternoon career.

The Australian Airport Delay Index is therefore less a league table of shame than a warning about operational consequence.

A few percentage points can become millions of affected journeys. In aviation, small numbers have an unfortunate habit of arriving with very large luggage.

For travellers, the lesson is plain: build breathing room into the itinerary.

For the industry, the message is sharper. Punctuality is not a decorative performance measure for an annual report. It is a core part of the product being sold.