C

DRW to BNE flight delays

Darwin (DRW) Brisbane (BNE)

828 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · Australian Government BITRE

79.8%

Arrived on time

Within 15 minutes of schedule

1.33%

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. Qantas arrived on time 8.1 points more often than Jetstar 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 July it ran 25.2 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.

The route has been getting better. The later months in the record run 13.7 points more punctual than the earlier ones, which usually means a schedule that was too tight has been given more room.

The Darwin to Brisbane route sits close to the middle of the record — neither notably punctual nor notably late.

Which airline should you fly on this route?

Over January 2025 – August 2026, Qantas arrived on time most often on DRW to BNE. Jetstar was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in July and worst in January.

Every airline on DRW to BNE

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
Qantas 328 84.52% 1.52% B
Virgin Australia 300 76.95% 1.67% C
Jetstar 200 76.38% 0.5% C

Month by month

Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.

Jan 2025 peak 87 Jul 2026
On-time arrival rate, %

Common questions

Are flights from Darwin to Brisbane usually delayed?

79.8% of flights on the DRW to BNE route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.

Which airline is most on time from Darwin to Brisbane?

Qantas, at 84.52% on time across 328 flights. The least punctual on the route was Jetstar at 76.38%.

How often are DRW to BNE flights cancelled?

1.33% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 13 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.

What is the best month to fly Darwin to Brisbane?

July, when 87.3% of flights arrived on time. The worst was January at 62.1%.

What these figures do and do not tell you

Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on DRW to BNE during January 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 →