Airspace in the busy route between Brisbane and Sydney was abruptly left without air traffic services twice on Tuesday, limiting the number of flights and causing a raft of cancellations at the height of the holiday travel period.

There have been 26 periods that air traffic services have been interrupted in the last fortnight, and 334 in total over the last year. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the aviation sector, this did not occur at all.