Cancelled
0.3%
1.8 pts better than average
Ayers Rock to Melbourne
AYQ → MEL · 1,910 km · 32 flights a month · Melbourne to Ayers Rock
On time (departures)
79.1%
national 78.2%
Flight time
2h 45m
25m shorter than the return
Latest month
0.0%
Jul 2026 cancelled
Airlines
2
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026
Flights between Ayers Rock and Melbourne carried 9,691 passengers in both directions in Jun 2026, ranking 60th of the 62 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Jul 2026, 0.3% of flights from Ayers Rock to Melbourne were cancelled, well below the national average of 2.1%. Direction matters here: Melbourne→Ayers Rock departs on time 83.0% of the time against 79.1% coming back.
The route
1,910 km great-circle · 2h 45m typical
Punctuality by airline
12 months to Jul 2026. Qantas and QantasLink are reported separately in the source data and are shown that way here — on many routes the difference between them is large.
| Airline | Group | Flights | Cancelled | On time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jetstar | 238 | 0.0% | 81.9% | |
| Virgin Australia | Virgin Australia Group | 146 | 0.7% | 74.5% |
Does the direction matter?
On this route it does. Delays build up through the day, so the aircraft flying the return leg is often already behind schedule. Cancellations, by contrast, usually take out both legs — which is why those figures barely differ.
| Direction | On time | Cancelled | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayers Rock → Melbourne | 79.1% | 0.3% | 384 |
| Melbourne → Ayers Rock | 83.0% | 0.0% | 383 |
A 3.9 point gap in on-time departures · 12 months to Jul 2026
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jul 2026. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Passengers, 2024 to 2026
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Ayers Rock to Melbourne and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Ayers Rock to Melbourne only.
How long is the flight?
Scheduled flight time from Ayers Rock to Melbourne is 2h 45m gate to gate, over 1,910 km. The return leg is scheduled at 3h 10m — the two directions differ by 25m, so this way round is the quicker one.
A gap that size is normally the wind. Australia sits under strong westerly winds aloft, so eastbound flights ride them and westbound flights push into them — the same aircraft, the same distance, a different flight duration each way.
This is scheduled block time — from leaving the gate to reaching it at the other end — not time in the air, and not a substitute for checking your own booking. It is a median across the flights currently timetabled on this leg.
Flight numbers on this route
2 flight numbers currently scheduled from Ayers Rock to Melbourne. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 2h 45m.
Not a daily service — this week it is scheduled on Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun (7 departures).
Jetstar · 1 · Airbus A320
JQ665
Virgin Australia · 1 · Boeing 737-800
VA1682
Current timetable as at 2026-09-06
Timetables change; these are not a booking source and carry no punctuality figures of their own. The cancellation and on-time rates above are for the route as a whole, not for any single flight number — per-flight performance is not collected.
The route in numbers
| Busiest month on record | 11,300 · Oct 2024 |
| Load factor, Jun 2026 | 91.0% |
| Aircraft trips, Jun 2026 | 58 |
| Great-circle distance | 1,910 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026