Flight time
3h
Ayers Rock to Sydney, scheduled
Ayers Rock to Sydney
AYQ → SYD · 2,181 km · Sydney to Ayers Rock
Distance
2,181 km
great-circle
Punctuality for this route is no longer reported, though historical figures remain below. The route is busiest in August and quietest in December.
The route
2,181 km great-circle · 3h typical
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Mar 2020. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Punctuality is no longer reported for this route. The historical series above ends Mar 2020.
Passengers, 2010 to 2026
Not enough data to chart.
Not enough data to chart.
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Ayers Rock to Sydney and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Ayers Rock to Sydney only.
When is this route busiest?
Average passengers by calendar month, relative to the annual average. 2020 and 2021 are excluded — those years were a structural break, not a season, and leaving them in shifts the apparent peak month on most routes. Higher months are typically the more expensive ones to fly.
Both directions combined, as published.
How long is the flight?
Scheduled flight time from Ayers Rock to Sydney is 3h gate to gate, over 2,181 km. The return leg is scheduled at 3h 35m — the two directions differ by 35m, 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 Sydney. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
The route still operates, but it is no longer large enough to appear in the published passenger statistics — those end Mar 2020. The timetable below is current.
Typical flight time 3h.
Scheduled every day this week — 12 departures in all.
Jetstar · 1 · Airbus A320
JQ661
Qantas · 1 · Boeing 737-800
QF729
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 | 19,685 · Aug 2019 |
| Pandemic low | 8,217 · Mar 2020 |
| Great-circle distance | 2,181 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026