Travellers trying to fly in and out of Sydney Airport should brace for delays of up to an hour, after airlines were forced to increase the time between departures.
Qantas is preparing for 33 delays of up to an hour. Other airlines are expecting delays from 1.30pm to 5pm affecting both domestic and international departure flights and potential cancellations, however international flights are likely to be prioritised.
Airlines were advised of the spacing delays on Wednesday morning, which means the time between landings and takeoffs will need to be extended.
The problem has been linked to the rostering or air traffic controllers, with systematic staffing issues plaguing Sydney Airport over the last three weeks. The repeated incidents have placed significant pressure on Airservices chief executive Rob Sharpe who has overseen widespread delays and three near misses in two weeks.
An Airservices spokesman confirmed the delays were due to “rostering requirements” and “Airservices Australia is working to keep delays at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport to a minimum”.
They said Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) measures, like delaying the time between departures were put in place to “safely manage aviation demand”.
“Working with airlines and our union partners, we are committed to improving the consistency of our performance,” they said.
“We are building a larger pool of standby air traffic controllers to increase our staffing contingency numbers at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, reduce overtime and deliver stable rosters.”
Airservices acknowledges and thanks our dedicated controllers for their professionalism and work through this challenging period.
A spate of more than 150 delays in August, plus three potential collisions in three weeks have caused Transport Minister Catherine King to instruct department staff to regularly meet with Airservices. One senior government source described the arrangements as ‘babysitting’.
Do you know more about what’s happening inside Airservices Australia? Email Jessica Wang at jessica.wang@news.com.au