ADL to CBR flight delays
1,920 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · Australian Government BITRE
86.5%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
1.61%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
—
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
—
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. QantasLink arrived on time 13.3 points more often than Virgin Australia over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In September it ran 18.4 points more punctual than in January — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
This route does better than its own airport. Departures from ADL overall run 7.8 points less punctual than this particular one — so whatever congestion ADL has, this route is largely escaping it.
Flights from Adelaide to Canberra keep to schedule more reliably than most. On a route this punctual the day you fly matters more than the airline you pick.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, QantasLink arrived on time most often on ADL to CBR. Virgin Australia was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in September and worst in October.
Every airline on ADL to CBR
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QantasLink | 1,632 | 88.52% | 1.78% | — | B |
| Virgin Australia | 288 | 75.17% | 0.69% | — | C |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
CBR to ADL Canberra back to Adelaide 85.07% on time BCommon questions
Are flights from Adelaide to Canberra usually delayed?
86.5% of flights on the ADL to CBR route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 1 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Adelaide to Canberra?
QantasLink, at 88.52% on time across 1,632 flights. The least punctual on the route was Virgin Australia at 75.17%.
How often are ADL to CBR flights cancelled?
1.61% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 16 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Adelaide to Canberra?
September, when 92.8% of flights arrived on time. The worst was January at 74.4%.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on ADL to CBR during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →