Cancelled
2.3%
0.3 pts worse than average
Melbourne to Brisbane
MEL → BNE · 1,381 km · 1,017 flights a month · Brisbane to Melbourne
On time (departures)
74.9%
national 78.8%
Flight time
2h 15m
15m shorter than the return
Latest month
0.7%
Aug 2026 cancelled
Airlines
4
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Aug 2026
Flights between Melbourne and Brisbane carried 330,226 passengers in both directions in Jul 2026, ranking 3rd of the 61 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Aug 2026, 2.3% of flights from Melbourne to Brisbane were cancelled, above the national average of 2.0%. In the published records for Sep 2025–Aug 2026, QantasLink recorded 7.3% cancellations across 1,734 scheduled flights, compared with Virgin Australia's 0.9% across 5,059 scheduled flights in this direction. These are observed samples, not a forecast. The route is busiest in October and quietest in February.
The route
1,381 km great-circle · 2h 15m typical
Punctuality by airline
12 months to Aug 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 | 5,059 | 0.9% | 78.8% |
| Qantas | Qantas Group | 3,146 | 1.1% | 86.6% |
| Jetstar | 2,259 | 3.2% | 57.0% | |
| QantasLink | Qantas Group | 1,734 | 7.3% | 64.2% |
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Aug 2026. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Passengers, 1984 to 2026
Traffic: to Jul 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Melbourne to Brisbane and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Melbourne to Brisbane 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 Brisbane is 2h 15m gate to gate, over 1,381 km. The return leg is scheduled at 2h 30m — the two directions differ by 15m, 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
46 flight numbers currently scheduled from Melbourne to Brisbane. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 2h 15m.
Scheduled every day this week — 239 departures in all.
Qantas · 20 · Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 (winglets), Airbus A220-300
QF600 · QF602 · QF604 · QF608 · QF610 · QF612 · QF614 · QF616 · QF618 · QF620 · QF622 · QF624 · QF626 · QF628 · QF632 · QF1250 · QF1252 · QF1254 · QF1256 · QF1258
Virgin Australia · 17 · Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 (winglets), Boeing 737, Boeing 737-8MAX
VA303 · VA307 · VA309 · VA313 · VA319 · VA321 · VA323 · VA327 · VA331 · VA333 · VA337 · VA341 · VA347 · VA349 · VA353 · VA359 · VA4038
Jetstar · 9 · Airbus A320, Airbus A321 NEO, Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320 NEO
JQ558 · JQ560 · JQ562 · JQ564 · JQ566 · JQ568 · JQ570 · JQ572 · JQ574
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 | 336,391 · Oct 2025 |
| Pandemic low | 3,677 · Aug 2020 |
| Traffic vs 2019 average | 99.1% |
| Load factor, Jul 2026 | 89.3% |
| Aircraft trips, Jul 2026 | 2,200 |
| Great-circle distance | 1,381 km |
Traffic: to Jul 2026