Updated August 10, 2026 — 3:50pm,first published August 10, 2026 — 9:38am
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Two airport workers have been stood down and the chief of Australia’s air traffic control agency has been warned that delays at Sydney Airport have become “unacceptable” as investigators probe the second near-collision between planes on the tarmac in the past two weeks.
But passengers, who have had to deal with the delays caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers, will have to wait weeks before a new roster comes into effect in September that Airservices Australia hopes will improve reliability.
An air traffic controller and a ground worker involved in an incident on Sunday have been stood down under their employers’ policies while authorities determine how a Jetstar plane got within metres of striking a Qatar jet.
The stand-downs, which are common after an incident, come as Transport Minister Catherine King criticised the delays and disruptions after meeting with Airservices Australia chief executive Rob Sharp.
“The delays and disruptions we have seen at Sydney Airport over the last three days have been unacceptable and have caused significant disruption to passengers, staff and airlines,” King said.
Airservices committed to implementing “improved rostering practices” for Sydney’s air traffic controllers that will be in place from early September, King said.
“I have made my expectations clear that Airservices must carefully manage the situation at Sydney for the rest of August,” she said.
Sharp apologised for the impact “on flight delays” and the effect that has on people’s travel plans.
“I want to assure the public that safety is not compromised when issues with staffing levels occur,” he said, noting that safety measures can lead to flight delays.
The Sunday near miss came just weeks after a similar incident in which planes had been given contradictory instructions by controllers at Sydney Airport. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is now investigating. Its chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said the incident occurred at low speed but still had the potential to be “very significant”.
“Those two aircraft should not have come as close as they did,” he said on Seven’s Sunrise. He would not prejudge his organisation’s investigation, but signalled that the traffic control system had been under significant stress.
Airservices has repeatedly reduced flight frequencies at Sydney Airport over the past week due to shortages of air traffic controllers, leading to major delays.
One former Airservices controller told this masthead: “This seems to happen a couple of times a year where…staffing issues directly impact their ability to handle flow.