Unfortunately they are an unavoidable part of air travel, but some airports seem to have more delays than others.

An analysis of BITRE data by finder.com.au found the top ten airports around Australia where you were most likely to have your flight delayed on cancelled, based on statistics collected in 2017.

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The research found that Sunshine Coast Airport topped the list for with nearly one third of all domestic flights delayed last year.

Of the capital city airports Hobart had the most delays, with 27 per cent of the 17,994 flights not leaving as scheduled.

Gold Coast and Launceston airports came in at third and fourth, with both having around 24 per cent of their flights delayed.

Sydney airport came in at number five, seeing 113 flights delayed on average each day in 2017, which works out to almost seven delays each hour.

One quarter of the 21,600 flights that were cancelled across Australia last year came from Sydney alone.

Only three of Australia’s capital cities made the top ten most unreliable airports list, with smaller and rural airports taking up most of the spots.

“Interestingly, it’s the smaller airports in Australia that experience more delays,” Bessie Hassan, Travel Insurance Expert at finder.com.au, said.

“Flight delays are never ideal, and even for a domestic trip a significant delay can put an inconvenienced traveller hundreds of dollars out of pocket.”

Melbourne Airport was the third capital city airport to make the list. Though it did improve it’s position, falling from seventh place to ninth with 18 per cent of flights delayed.

Conversely, Rockhampton Airport saw a spike in delayed in cancelled flights, rising from seventeenth most delayed airport in 2016 to fifth place last year.

The airport with the least amount of delays in Australia was Port Lincoln, with just eight per cent of flights leaving late in 2017 and out of the major cities Perth had the best track record with only 13 per cent of flights delayed.

Ms Hassan said that in certain circumstances travel insurance can be used to claim on significant delays.

“When it comes to travel insurance, usually the delay will need to be over six hours for a claim to be approved,” she said.

“Inconvenienced passengers should contact their airline for instruction and check the fine print of their insurance policy to ensure it covers delays.”