Flight time
3h 10m
Melbourne to Alice Springs, scheduled
Melbourne to Alice Springs
MEL → ASP · 1,860 km · Alice Springs to Melbourne
Distance
1,860 km
great-circle
Punctuality for this route is no longer reported, though historical figures remain below.
The route
1,860 km great-circle · 3h 10m typical
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jul 2014. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Punctuality is no longer reported for this route. The historical series above ends Jul 2014.
Passengers, 2008 to 2026
Not enough data to chart.
Not enough data to chart.
Not enough data to chart.
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Melbourne to Alice Springs and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Melbourne to Alice Springs only.
How long is the flight?
Scheduled flight time from Melbourne to Alice Springs is 3h 10m gate to gate, over 1,860 km. The return leg is scheduled at 2h 40m — the two directions differ by 30m, so this way round is the slower 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
1 flight number currently scheduled from Melbourne to Alice Springs. 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 Jul 2014. The timetable below is current.
Typical flight time 3h 10m.
Not a daily service — this week it is scheduled on Mon, Tue, Thu and Sat (4 departures).
Qantas · 1 · Airbus A220-300
QF1598
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 | 14,168 · Jul 2013 |
| Great-circle distance | 1,860 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026