Virgin Australia axes flights as crew call in sick, extending travel chaos to a sixth day

Just when it looked like it was safe to fly again, sickness has struck one of Australia’s biggest airlines, causing further chaos.

Just when it looked like it was safe to fly again, Virgin Australia has been hit by a wave of staff sickness, prompting the cancellation of five return flights.

The disruption followed days of travel chaos due to air traffic controller shortages, strong winds at Sydney Airport and then unplanned runway repairs at Brisbane Airport.

Dozens of flight delays and cancellations since last Thursday have seen countless travel plans disrupted at one of the busiest times of the year.

A Virgin Australia spokesman extended apologies to anyone impacted by Tuesday’s delayed or cancelled services, adding that they were working hard to ensure guests reached their destination.

“We continue to communicate with guests whose flights are disrupted and ensure they are accommodated on the next available services,” the spokesman said.

It’s understood the five return flights affected were due to leave Sydney on Tuesday morning, with passengers informed about 4am of the change of plans.

In the event another service was not available for passengers, a travel credit would be offered.

Although “operational reasons” were given as the cause of the cancellations, it’s understood crew unavailability was the main contributing factor.

Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar have all been recruiting heavily in the past 12-months in an effort to add resilience to operations, after last year’s disastrous July holiday period.

Across all airlines, on-time performance dipped to a low of 55 per cent for arrivals as cancellations soared to 6.4 per cent, well above the long term average of 2.1 per cent.

Since then performance has improved across most carriers, with May data showing 74 per cent of flights arrived on-time, and 3 per cent of services cancelled.

As part of a review of its demand management scheme, Sydney Airport was pushing for a relaxation of the 80-flights an hour cap on the gateway in order to “catch up” delayed flights in times of disruption.

Huge demand for air travel was adding to the extent of the chaos, with more than 4 million people booked to fly with Qantas and Jetstar between late June and late July.

Virgin Australia was also heavily booked in the school holiday period.

Originally published as Virgin Australia axes flights as crew call in sick, extending travel chaos to a sixth day