Cancelled
1.1%
0.9 pts better than average
Melbourne to Adelaide
MEL → ADL · 643 km · 682 flights a month · Adelaide to Melbourne
On time (departures)
77.6%
national 78.2%
Flight time
1h 25m
scheduled, gate to gate
Latest month
0.6%
Jul 2026 cancelled
Airlines
4
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026
Flights between Melbourne and Adelaide carried 182,050 passengers in both directions in Jun 2026, ranking 5th of the 62 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Jul 2026, 1.1% of flights from Melbourne to Adelaide were cancelled, well below the national average of 2.1%. Which airline you fly matters: QantasLink cancelled 3.0% of its flights in this direction, 4.1× the rate of Qantas at 0.7%.
The route
643 km great-circle · 1h 25m 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Australia | Virgin Australia Group | 3,085 | 0.9% | 78.5% |
| Qantas | Qantas Group | 2,819 | 0.7% | 84.1% |
| Jetstar | 1,907 | 1.8% | 67.1% | |
| QantasLink | Qantas Group | 367 | 3.0% | 74.7% |
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jul 2026. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Passengers, 1984 to 2026
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Melbourne to Adelaide and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Melbourne to Adelaide 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 Melbourne to Adelaide is 1h 25m gate to gate, over 643 km. The return leg is scheduled at much the same, 1h 20m.
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
25 flight numbers currently scheduled from Melbourne to Adelaide. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 1h 25m.
Scheduled every day this week — 157 departures in all.
Virgin Australia · 11 · Boeing 737-800 (winglets), Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737, Boeing 737 MAX 8
VA203 · VA211 · VA217 · VA219 · VA227 · VA229 · VA231 · VA233 · VA237 · VA241 · VA247
Qantas · 8 · Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 (winglets)
QF671 · QF675 · QF679 · QF683 · QF687 · QF691 · QF693 · QF697
Jetstar · 6 · Airbus A320, Airbus A320 (Sharklets), Airbus A321, Boeing 737-800
JQ772 · JQ774 · JQ776 · JQ778 · JQ780 · JQ782
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 | 232,046 · Oct 2019 |
| Pandemic low | 1,191 · Aug 2020 |
| Traffic vs 2019 average | 92.5% |
| Load factor, Jun 2026 | 85.1% |
| Aircraft trips, Jun 2026 | 1,285 |
| Great-circle distance | 643 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026