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Cairns to Melbourne flight delays and cancellations
0.9% of Cairns to Melbourne flights were cancelled in the twelve months to September 2026, and 70.7% left on time. That is well below the national rate of 1.9%.
2,195 flights were scheduled from Cairns to Melbourne over the twelve months to September 2026, about 6 a day. 0.9% of them were cancelled, which is well below the national rate of 1.9% and puts it in the most reliable third of the 92 routes BITRE publishes. 70.7% of the flights that did operate left within 15 minutes of schedule. In practical terms that is about one cancellation in every 111 flights on this route.
Cairns to Melbourne at a glance
Cancelled0.9%
Departed on time70.7%
Flights a year2,195
Cancellations20
Cancellation rate is cancellations divided by flights scheduled. On-time rate is on-time departures divided by flights flown, because a flight that was cancelled cannot also have left late. Each direction is counted separately: Sydney to Melbourne and Melbourne to Sydney are different flights with different records.
Which airline is most reliable on Cairns to Melbourne
Qantas cancelled 0.2% of its flights on this route and Jetstar 1.6%. Same airports, same weather, same twelve months, so the difference is the airline: schedule, aircraft type and how much slack it leaves in the day.
| Airline | Cancelled | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetstar | 1.6% | 69.8% | 1,001 |
| Virgin Australia | 0.4% | 67.1% | 772 |
| Qantas | 0.2% | 79.1% | 422 |
An airline needs 200 scheduled flights a year on the route to appear here. Codeshare flights are reported by the airline that operates them, so a Qantas-numbered flight flown by QantasLink counts as QantasLink.
The worst months to fly Cairns to Melbourne
December is the month to avoid on this route, at 5.2% cancelled against 0.4% in June. If the trip can move, moving it is worth more than any airline choice you could make.
Month by month, over the last two years
It has been steady, running near 0.7% over the last six months.
See the monthly figures as a table
| Month | Cancelled | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.3% | 72.2% | 639 |
| February | 1.8% | 71.9% | 388 |
| March | 1% | 78.6% | 492 |
| April | 0.9% | 80.2% | 643 |
| May | 0.4% | 73.5% | 466 |
| June | 0.4% | 61.5% | 542 |
| July | 0.6% | 64.6% | 707 |
| August | 0.8% | 68.2% | 605 |
| September | 0.7% | 70.4% | 673 |
| October | 1.3% | 58.1% | 670 |
| November | 1.1% | 60.1% | 540 |
| December | 5.2% | 69.8% | 618 |
The flight home
The return leg is a different flight with a different record: Melbourne to Cairns is cancelled 0.5% of the time, less often than the outbound. Morning departures generally do better than evening ones on any route, because a delay early in the day follows the aircraft around for the rest of it.
If it is cancelled
About 20 Cairns to Melbourne flights were cancelled over the last twelve months, so on this route it is worth knowing the answer before you are standing at the desk. Australia has no fixed compensation payment like the European one. If the airline caused it you can ask for a refund or a seat on the next flight, on any carrier, and most airlines will cover a meal and a hotel. If it was weather or air traffic control, you get the later flight or your money back and nothing else.
Booking Cairns to Melbourne
You know the route's record now. This searches fares from Australia, on every airline flying them.
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Flying domestically? The rules are not the international ones
There is no 100ml liquid limit on an Australian domestic flight, and no need to take your laptop out. There is a quarantine rule on fruit and vegetables between states that catches people constantly.
What is actually worth booking.
New destination guides and side-by-side comparisons for Australian travellers - which eSIM, which travel card, which insurance is worth paying for, and what to sort before you go. Prices in Australian dollars, a few emails a year.
Use this data
Free to reuse, including commercially, with attribution. The underlying counts are BITRE's under a CC BY 3.0 AU licence; the derived figures here - rates, rankings and the month-by-month breakdown - are ours, on the same terms.
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Cite this page
Before You Fly (2026). Cairns to Melbourne flight delays. Derived from BITRE domestic airline on time performance data. Retrieved from https://beforeyoufly.com.au/flight-delays/cairns-melbourne/
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Cairns to Melbourne flight FAQs
How often are Cairns to Melbourne flights cancelled?
0.9% of scheduled Cairns to Melbourne flights were cancelled in the twelve months to September 2026: 20 cancellations out of 2,195 scheduled flights. That is well below the national rate of 1.9%. The figures are BITRE's, collected from the airlines each month.
Are Cairns to Melbourne flights usually on time?
70.7% of Cairns to Melbourne flights that operated departed within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, against a national average of 78.7%. Qantas was the most punctual carrier on the route at 79.1%.
Which airline is most reliable on Cairns to Melbourne?
Qantas cancelled the fewest Cairns to Melbourne flights over the last year, at 0.2% of the 422 it scheduled. Jetstar cancelled the most at 1.6%. That is a gap of 1.4 percentage points on the same route in the same months, so it is the airline rather than the weather.
What is the worst month to fly Cairns to Melbourne?
December is the worst month on this route, with 5.2% of flights cancelled, and June the best at 0.4%. Measured across three years of BITRE data, so it reflects the route's usual pattern rather than one bad month.
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, domestic airline on time performance, published on data.gov.au under a CC BY 3.0 AU licence. Figures cover the twelve months to September 2026 and were last refreshed 22 October 2026. On time means within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, which is BITRE's definition. This route had 2,195 scheduled flights in the period. All Australian flight delay statistics.