Cancelled
0.4%
1.7 pts better than average
Melbourne to Darwin
MEL → DRW · 3,131 km · 83 flights a month · Darwin to Melbourne
On time (departures)
72.7%
national 78.2%
Flight time
4h 30m
20m longer than the return
Latest month
0.0%
Jul 2026 cancelled
Airlines
3
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026
Flights between Melbourne and Darwin carried 31,119 passengers in both directions in Jun 2026, ranking 36th of the 62 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Jul 2026, 0.4% of flights from Melbourne to Darwin were cancelled, well below the national average of 2.1%. Traffic is still running at 88.5% of its 2019 average. The route is busiest in July and quietest in February.
The route
3,131 km great-circle · 4h 30m 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qantas | Qantas Group | 390 | 0.5% | 79.9% |
| Virgin Australia | Virgin Australia Group | 316 | 0.3% | 75.6% |
| Jetstar | 290 | 0.3% | 59.9% |
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jul 2026. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Passengers, 1994 to 2026
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Melbourne to Darwin and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Melbourne to Darwin 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 Darwin is 4h 30m gate to gate, over 3,131 km. The return leg is scheduled at 4h 10m — the two directions differ by 20m, so this way round is the slower 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
5 flight numbers currently scheduled from Melbourne to Darwin. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 4h 30m.
Scheduled every day this week — 25 departures in all.
Qantas · 3 · Boeing 737-800
QF834 · QF836 · QF838
Jetstar · 1 · Airbus A320
JQ678
Virgin Australia · 1 · Boeing 737, Boeing 737-800
VA1459
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 | 36,301 · Jul 2022 |
| Pandemic low | 10,755 · Dec 2021 |
| Traffic vs 2019 average | 88.5% |
| Load factor, Jun 2026 | 89.9% |
| Aircraft trips, Jun 2026 | 194 |
| Great-circle distance | 3,131 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026