The Monday morning before last, two Airservices Australia staff were unable to take up their post atop a control tower at Sydney Airport. Chaos ensued.
A ground delay program that began at 3pm restricted arrivals to 26 an hour (down from 40), causing cascading postponements throughout the nation. And we know all about it because, unlucky for him, Airservices chief Jason Harfield found himself at Senate Estimates that afternoon, where Senator Bridget McKenzie grilled him on what precisely caused the ruckus.
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correction —
This article has been amended to note that certain statistics refer to ground delays caused by Airservices, rather than flight delays as a whole which can have other causes.
Myriam Robin is a senior writer based in the Melbourne newsroom. She has previously been a Rear Window columnist and editor, and before that reported on financial markets and media. Connect with Myriam on Twitter. Email Myriam at myriam.robin@afr.com
