Sydney’s airport has ranked in the top 10 for the world’s worst for delays and cancellations

If you've ever flown out of Sydney Airport, you can likely relate to anxiously hoping you won't be hit with the trifecta of bad traffic en route to the airport, departure delays and flight cancellations. It's not great, but as the numbers show us, the situation is worse than you may have thought.

According to data compiled for CNN Travel from flight tracking site FlightAware, Kingsford Smith International Airport cracks the top ten of the world’s worst airports. It came in at number nine in the world for most delays (between May 26 to July 19, 34.2 per cent of flights were delayed) and number six for most cancellations (5.9 per cent of flights were cancelled). Major airports in Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, London and Canada also broke into the list of the ten worst performers. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada, topped the list, with 52.5 per cent of flights delayed. 

Meanwhile, according to another set of data from the OAG Flight Database, Melbourne Airport takes the title of the country’s worst. In the month of June, only 45.6 per cent of departing flights from Melbourne Airport took off on time, and 8.1 per cent were cancelled. Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport narrowly scrapes in ahead of Melbourne – with 54.5 per cent of flights departing on time and 7.1 per cent being cancelled in the month of June. On the other end of the spectrum, Brisbane Airport is Australia's most on-time airport, with 63.4 per cent of flights departing on time and a cancellation rate of less than five per cent. 

Australia’s major airports are in good company, globally speaking. London’s Heathrow Airport has descended into utter chaos. The OAG's data does show that there's an overall uptick in global airport mayhem, likely spurred by poor weather, staff shortages and a surge in desire for post-Covid travel. In Australia, June has been a particularly bad month, with twice as many flights being cancelled compared to the long-term average. 

With all of this in mind, if you're planning on doing any travelling any time soon, consider booking your flight with the airlines that have clocked the best on-time arrivals. In June, Virgin Australia came in on top with a 60.4 per cent rate of on-time arrivals and a cancellation rate of 5.8 per cent. Regional airline Rex Airlines recorded a whopping 80 per cent on-time arrival rate and a meagre 0.7 per cent cancellation rate. Learn more here.

Speaking of flying, the first-class cabins for the Qantas flight from Sydney to London have been revealed and they look insane.

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