Commuter Chaos on Sydney to Melbourne Route
January 22, 2009
There seems to be some uncanny parallels with the Airline industry and the public transport industry. The Melbourne-Sydney air route — Australia’s busiest — is also among the nation’s worst for cancellations and delays, government statistics have revealed. Anyone familiar with the Melbourne or Sydney public transport system will appreciate the similarities.
The newest results, from November 2008 show the route was the third-worst for cancellations, with almost one in 20 flights scrapped, which equates to more than five flights per day.
Every Airline summoned an appropriate excuse for the delays. Qantas blamed the Engineers dispute last year and stated that they were well on the way to returning to their previous performance levels. Whilst Virgin pointed the finger at Sydney’s tumultuous weather… it would seem climate change can be blamed for almost everything!
Overall on all routes, more planes left late, arrived late or were cancelled, but this did not deter travellers, who flew in record numbers. Tiger was the most likely to arrive on time in November, with 78.6 per cent on time, followed by Jetstar (78.4), Qantas (78.2) and Virgin Blue (73.1). Our members expressed bewilderment regarding the coup for Tiger. However, one member remained us all of the old adage there are lies, damned lies and statistics.
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