Flight time
4h 22m
Darwin to Sydney, scheduled
Darwin to Sydney
DRW → SYD · 3,155 km · Sydney to Darwin
Distance
3,155 km
great-circle
Punctuality for this route is no longer reported, though historical figures remain below. The route is busiest in July and quietest in February.
The route
3,155 km great-circle · 4h 22m typical
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jan 2023. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Punctuality is no longer reported for this route. The historical series above ends Jan 2023.
Passengers, 1984 to 2026
Not enough data to chart.
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Darwin to Sydney and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Darwin 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 Darwin to Sydney is 4h 22m gate to gate, over 3,155 km. The return leg is scheduled at 4h 45m — the two directions differ by 23m, so this way round is the quicker one.
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
4 flight numbers currently scheduled from Darwin 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 Jan 2023. The timetable below is current.
Typical flight time 4h 22m.
Scheduled every day this week — 23 departures in all.
Qantas · 2 · Boeing 737-800
QF841 · QF843
Jetstar · 1 · Airbus A320
JQ671
Virgin Australia · 1 · Boeing 737, Boeing 737-800
VA1350
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 | 44,614 · Jul 2012 |
| Pandemic low | 14,082 · Feb 2020 |
| Great-circle distance | 3,155 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026