Air traffic controller ‘rostering issues’ behind disruption, Airservices Australia says, with delays on more than 150 flights
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Passengers travelling through the country’s largest airport have been warned of significant delays on dozens of international and domestic routes.
More than 150 flights passing through Sydney airport have been affected, including 95 across the Qantas network, as the airport struggles with staffing shortages.
A spokesperson for the airport said Airservices Australia, which oversees air traffic control there, was managing reduced air traffic movements that were expected to impact flights network-wide and result in delays.
“We encourage passengers to check with their airline for the latest information on their flight,” they said on Saturday.
Airservices Australia said it had enacted air traffic-flow management measures, including spacing out departures, due to roster constraints.
It acknowledged this may cause disruptions but added that it was working with airlines to reduce the impact on passenger travel.
“Airservices is enhancing our training pipeline to add further controllers to improve roster depth and is working to address rostering issues that reduce the flexibility of our workforce,” a spokesperson said.
Stephen Beckett, the chief executive of industry group Airlines for Australia and New Zealand, told the ABC on Saturday that Airservices Australia had been unable to roster enough air traffic controllers.
“We’ve just had three days in a row [where] Australia has not been able to roster enough people in the air traffic control centres,” he said.
“They continue to tell us they have recruited enough people to staff the tower. If so, why do we have these persistent problems?” he said.
“The problem in the tower has been going on for years and Australian travellers are having enough of it because these are entirely preventable delays.
“While safety is currently being maintained, it is throwing the schedules out the window and impacting the travelling public. Many people are missing international connections and vital connections to regional Australia.”
Beckett called on Airservices Australia to identify the root cause of the issue and detail plans to address it.