Virgin ‘reduces flying to minimise disruption’ ahead of huge weekend of travel

Virgin Australia has reduced flying to ‘minimise disruption’ to guests from increased sickness levels among staff.

Airports and airlines are bracing for another huge couple of days as school holidays end in Queensland and Victoria and begin in Tasmania and South Australia. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Staff absenteeism rates well in excess of the norm have prompted Virgin Australia to reduce flying even as thousands of travellers seek to return from holidays.

A Sydney Airport spokeswoman said the airline was “proactively cancelling flights” out of the gateway’s T2 terminal, which was causing some issues.

Most of the cancelled flights were to Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Adelaide with knock-on effects expected across the day.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman confirmed they had reduced flying in the short-term in an effort to minimise disruption from increased sickness.

“Sometimes short-term unforeseen adjustments to the schedule are necessary, but lead to some disruption, and we sincerely apologise to guests impacted by these events,” said the spokeswoman.

“Our crew continue to work hard including picking up additional duties, to help our guests to their destinations during this busy period.”

She assured anyone affected by flight cancellations would be advised well in advance.

The challenges facing Virgin came at the start of another huge weekend of travel throughout Australia as school holidays ended in Victoria and Queensland and began in South Australia and Tasmania.

With New South Wales, the ACT and Western Australia also on holidays, Qantas and Jetstar were expecting to fly 350,000 people across the country between Friday and Monday.

Virgin Australia was also carrying significantly more passengers than at Easter, on top of dealing with elevated levels of staff sickness.

Of the 90,000 passengers booked to pass through Melbourne Airport on Friday, 75,000 were domestic travellers, and over half of those returning residents.

A Melbourne Airport spokesman said those figures were above 2019 levels, and meant baggage claim areas were likely to be very busy.

Brisbane Airport was also predicting some hectic days ahead, with around 55,000 passengers a day booked to travel in and out of the gateway.

A spokesman said Monday was set to be extremely busy, with interstate arrivals, FIFO roster changes and business travellers.

“We’re advising anyone travelling on Monday morning to turn up at least 90-minutes ahead of their (domestic) flight,” he said.

Sydney Airport reported a relatively smooth start but warned of issues at the T2 domestic terminal with a number of cancelled Virgin Australia flights.

Around 115,000 people were expected through the airport’s three terminals on Friday, including 83,000 domestic travellers.

That figure was set to grow to 438,000 across the weekend and Monday, making it one of the busiest few days of the year.

Virgin Australia was not the only one grappling with high rates of illness among staff with Qantas also flagging an increase in crew Covid cases.

“Additional crew on standby is helping to minimise the impact this is having on flights,” said a statement from the airline.

Air New Zealand also warned of disruptions and flight changes due to rising rates of illness and bad weather.

More than 672,000 people were booked to travel with the kiwi carrier over the next two weeks to domestic and international destinations.

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said it was fantastic to see travel ramping up but it was not without its challenges.

“We’re excited to get so many customers off to their holiday destinations, but much like other businesses around New Zealand, we’re experiencing higher-than-usual employee sickness,” Mr Foran said.

“This coupled with tumultuous weather is likely to cause some disruptions across the network over the coming days.

“Our teams are working hard to ensure any disruptions are as minimal as possible, however, as flights are incredibly full over the next few weeks there is unfortunately limited spare capacity to move customers to alternative flights.”

Customers were encouraged to check-in online where possible and to prepare all travel documents prior to arriving at airports.

Elsewhere in the world, the International Air Transport Association noted an acceleration in air travel heading into the peak northern summer season.

IATA director-general Willie Walsh said the large volumes of travellers were testing the system, with “strains appearing in some European and North American hubs”.

“Nobody wants to see passengers suffering from delays or cancellations. But passengers can be confident that solutions are being urgently implemented,” said Mr Walsh.

“Airlines, airports and governments are working together, however, standing up the workforce needed to meet growing demand will take time and require patience in the few locations where the bottlenecks are the most severe.”

He said in the longer term, it would help if governments improved their understanding of how aviation operated.

“Having created so much uncertainty with kneejerk Covid-19 policy flip-flops and avoiding most opportunities to work in unison based on global standards, their actions did little to enable a smooth ramping-up of activity,” Mr Wash said.

“Aviation has delivered its best when governments and industry work together to agree and implement global standards.”

Originally published as Virgin ‘reduces flying to minimise disruption’ ahead of huge weekend of travel