Flights from Australia
Kiwi.com
Search fares
Sunshine Coast to Sydney flight delays and cancellations
1.3% of Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights were cancelled in the twelve months to September 2026, and 71.7% left on time. That is below the national rate of 1.9%.
2,777 flights were scheduled from Sunshine Coast to Sydney over the twelve months to September 2026, about 8 a day. 1.3% of them were cancelled, which is below the national rate of 1.9% and puts it around the middle of the 92 routes BITRE publishes. 71.7% of the flights that did operate left within 15 minutes of schedule. In practical terms that is about one cancellation in every 77 flights on this route.
Sunshine Coast to Sydney at a glance
Cancelled1.3%
Departed on time71.7%
Flights a year2,777
Cancellations36
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 Sunshine Coast to Sydney
Virgin Australia cancelled 0.5% of its flights on this route and QantasLink 2.3%. 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 | 1.4% | 77.8% | 1,109 |
| Virgin Australia | 0.5% | 71% | 791 |
| QantasLink | 2.3% | 61.5% | 731 |
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 Sunshine Coast to Sydney
March is the month to avoid on this route, at 2.3% cancelled against 0.6% in May. 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 1.1% over the last six months.
See the monthly figures as a table
| Month | Cancelled | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.2% | 68.1% | 780 |
| February | 1% | 75.8% | 588 |
| March | 2.3% | 73.9% | 648 |
| April | 1.8% | 75.8% | 685 |
| May | 0.6% | 78.3% | 625 |
| June | 1% | 77.4% | 594 |
| July | 1.8% | 71% | 709 |
| August | 0.9% | 71.4% | 635 |
| September | 0.9% | 70.7% | 657 |
| October | 1.3% | 67.6% | 688 |
| November | 2.1% | 64.3% | 669 |
| December | 1.5% | 67.4% | 748 |
The flight home
The return leg is a different flight with a different record: Sydney to Sunshine Coast is cancelled 0.9% 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 36 Sunshine Coast to Sydney 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 Sunshine Coast to Sydney
You know the route's record now. This searches fares from Australia, on every airline flying them.
Fares are searched live and are not ours to quote, so these go straight to the search rather than showing a price that would be out of date by the time you read it. We earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you, and it does not change the figures above.
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.
Download
Each file carries a data dictionary explaining what every field means and which denominator it uses.
Cite this page
Before You Fly (2026). Sunshine Coast to Sydney flight delays. Derived from BITRE domestic airline on time performance data. Retrieved from https://beforeyoufly.com.au/flight-delays/sunshine-coast-sydney/
Embed this chart
Paste this into any page. It refreshes itself when BITRE publishes, so the chart never goes stale.
Sunshine Coast to Sydney flight FAQs
How often are Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights cancelled?
1.3% of scheduled Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights were cancelled in the twelve months to September 2026: 36 cancellations out of 2,777 scheduled flights. That is below the national rate of 1.9%. The figures are BITRE's, collected from the airlines each month.
Are Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights usually on time?
71.7% of Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights that operated departed within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, against a national average of 78.7%. Jetstar was the most punctual carrier on the route at 77.8%.
Which airline is most reliable on Sunshine Coast to Sydney?
Virgin Australia cancelled the fewest Sunshine Coast to Sydney flights over the last year, at 0.5% of the 791 it scheduled. QantasLink cancelled the most at 2.3%. That is a gap of 1.8 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 Sunshine Coast to Sydney?
March is the worst month on this route, with 2.3% of flights cancelled, and May the best at 0.6%. 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 2,777 scheduled flights in the period. All Australian flight delay statistics.