Air traffic officials have met with airlines wanting urgent fixes to Sydney’s costly airport control problems, which triggered a rash of flight cancellations last month, but the industry is still in “wait-and-see” mode for a solution.
“We had a meeting that was hopefully productive,” former ACCC chairman and head of airline industry group, A4ANZ, Professor Graeme Samuel said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see what the outcome will be.”
Samuel described the January 28 meeting in cautious terms, while stressing that the cost of the ongoing problems with air traffic control-related delays is “enormous”.
More than 50 flights at Sydney Airport were cancelled on January 15, stranding about 10,000 passengers. In total, 200,000 passengers’ flights were delayed both in Sydney and beyond.
Airservices Australia said at the time the problem stemmed from “local staff … on short-notice sick and carers’ leave”.
Airlines were forced to dispatch alternative planes, rebook passengers and pay for hotel rooms for customers, staff and cabin crew.
The uproar prompted the body representing Australia’s airlines, A4ANZ, to request a meeting with Airservices boss Rob Sharp.
Airservices Australia said the meeting covered “recent disruptions to our air traffic control services”.
“While Airservices’ overall service performance is at its strongest in more than three years, we recognise resilience remains below where it needs to be in some locations, particularly Sydney,” a spokesperson said.
The persistent troubles among Sydney’s air traffic controllers have prompted airlines to push for outside scrutiny.
A spokesperson for Sydney Airport said it has about 900 aircraft movements daily, “so even small disruptions to air traffic control can have a major impact on passengers and airlines”.
“We’re supportive of all initiatives to improve productivity and the reliability of Airservices’ operations.”
A comprehensive fix to the air traffic control issues looks elusive.
The forthcoming aviation consumer rights ombuds scheme will address airlines but will not tackle government-related bodies in airports that can affect passengers’ experiences.
Australian Airports Association chief Simon Westaway said: “We would like the ombuds to be able to monitor Airservices so that if air services operations are contributing to customer impact, then it’s monitored and it’s called out, certainly in the data.”
Westaway stressed the airports association’s “constructive” relationship with Airservices, including Sharp, adding that he thinks the air traffic controller problems are a “contingency issue and it relates to work practices”.
”The contingencies around sick leave management or when key personnel call in sick on a particular day or days … that level of back-up obviously isn’t consistently there,” Westaway said.
Unplanned staffing shortages at Airservices Australia in Sydney also caused disruptions in September and November, prompting flight delays.
Airservices Australia, which is backed by the government and funded by charges to the aviation industry, produces regular performance updates. Its data shows an average of 6.5 cancellations per month linked to air traffic control across major airports in 2024-25, below its stated target of less than 14.
Within that figure, 5.7 cancellations were the monthly average in Sydney, with the remainder in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
On average, there were 18 hours per month of ground delays linked to air traffic control across the four major airports, with Sydney again accounting for lion’s share: 12.6 hours. Perth accounted for 4.7 hours and Melbourne made up 0.4 hours, while Brisbane made up 0.3.
The goal for ASA was an average of less than 67 hours per month of delays linked to its services.
In its federal budget submission, Australian Airports Association noted that while staffing rates have improved post-COVID for air traffic controllers, “maintaining staffing levels to deliver consistent daily service remains an ongoing challenge, particularly at major, metropolitan and regional airports”.
Under forthcoming legislation, air traffic control, border control and biosecurity will be excluded from an aviation consumer ombuds’ oversight. In December, the association proposed that government-run parts of airports be monitored for performance “without financial determinations against agencies” because of how much they impact passenger experience.
The association wants the government to mandate that more of the revenue generated from an existing passenger movement charge be used to improve border infrastructure, which has become a source of irritation, if not alarm.
More of the $70 passenger movement charge levied on travellers departing Australia for destinations abroad should be directed at improving the troubled border experience, its submission to the government said.
If the PMC remains unchanged at $70 per passenger, there will be a $380.41 million increase in PMC revenue collected in FY2030 compared with FY2025, an increase “driven by growth alone”.
An additional five per cent of the total PMC revenue each financial year “should be specifically reallocated to address and modernise border infrastructure at existing and redeveloping international airport gateways,” the AAA said in its submission.
The AAA is also calling for more passport control self-service kiosk machines to be deployed and functional at international gateways. And it wants the digitisation of the Australian traveller declaration card to be fully funded, to replace the much-loathed paper cards that passengers must complete upon arrival in Australia.
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