Staff shortages cripple airports as demand for workers soars across Australia

Workforce shortages are hitting our airports as thousands of passengers experience long delays. Here’s why it’s happening and what you can do.

Thousands of passengers are advised to expect delays as Melbourne and Sydney airports prepare for another busy day to kick off the Queen’s birthday long weekend.

There are public holidays in all states except Queensland and Western Australia and as the southeastern parts of the country shiver through a bracing cold snap, many are seizing the long weekend as a chance to fly north and thaw out in sunnier climates.

Melbourne Airport expected 97,000 travellers to fly yesterday - significantly more than the 90,000 that caused chaotic scenes over the Easter holiday.

Meanwhile, about 80,000 travellers passed through Sydney Airport on 760 domestic flights yesterday, with another 60,000 expected today. Long queues are expected again and customer service managers are pulling passengers forward in order or flight priority.

Queues started forming early at Sydney airport domestic departures. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

SCRAMBLING TO FILL VACANCIES

Crowds at both airports have returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, the airports that service our two biggest cities are on the back foot, still scrambling to fill job vacancies.

It’s set to get even busier with the winter school holidays just around the corner.

Sydney Airport is looking for more than 5000 jobs across 800 organisations that operate on its grounds. This includes everything from security, ground handling, customs and border control, terminal services, and retail. However, workers are hard to find.

“Labour shortages are hitting every sector in the economy, and we want to thank everyone who is travelling during this period for their patience as we rebuild the sector,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said in a statement this week.

“15,000 jobs were lost at the airport during the pandemic and even though everyone started recruiting heavily when borders looked like opening, we’ve still got 5,000 roles to fill.

“Our security contractor and ground handlers have been advertising jobs since December and have brought 500 staff on board since the start of the year, but they have another 1,200 roles to go which is incredibly challenging in this market.”

Thousands of Melburnians seized the chance to escape the cold. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

AIRPORT JOBS BONANZA

Sydney Airport will host a “jobs bonanza” on Thursday June 16 that will allow prospective workers to meet representatives from more than 40 of the largest employers at the airport and apply for a job on the spot. All you need to bring is an updated resume.

Training varies hugely from role to role. For example, retail staff can be up and running within days while security screening - the area where the majority of passengers are feeling the pinch - can take a couple of months to get new staff members accredited.

But that’s just the beginning of what’s needed.

Melbourne Airport welcomed 2.2 million passengers in April, the highest number since February 2020, and international travel was up 58 per cent from March to April.

“We knew demand for travel would return as soon as conditions permitted, and we’ve seen that over the Easter school holidays,” Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi said.

“We expect the airport will be even busier over the winter break, and while that’s an exciting prospect after these past few years, it does present challenges.”

Current advice is to arrive two hours early for domestic flights. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

NATIONWIDE LABOUR SHORTAGE

Airports are just one example of the workforce shortage sweeping across Australia.

According to employment marketplace Seek, we’re in the middle of a “great jobs boom”. Figures for May reveal that job ads are up more than 25 per cent compared to this time last year, but that applications are down 2 per cent month on month.

Among the top industries currently looking for workers are trades/services, hospitality/tourism, healthcare/medical, manufacturing/transport/logistics, and information technology.

Kendra Banks, Managing Director of Seek ANZ, said the record numbers of listings on site will continue as major industries battle staff shortages and low application rates.

“This time last year Victoria and New South Wales were entering another period of lockdown, which heralded four months of falling job ads as our two most populous states shut doors and businesses,” she said.

“Without the threat of impending lockdowns to dampen the outlook, this year businesses are preparing for winter and a busy second half of the year, particularly those in customer-facing industries.”

Sydney Airport is currently recruiting for 5000 roles. Picture: Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

ADVICE TO PASSENGERS

If the chaotic scenes at Easter and this weekend’s crowds have taught us anything, it’s that travellers should plan to arrive at the terminal early. Current advice is to arrive two hours prior early for domestic flights and three hours early international flights.

It’s also helpful to be proactive and to remove items such as aerosols, batteries and powerbanks, and laptops from luggage early to streamline security screening.

Finally, airports are requesting patience, because the majority of people taking off this long weekend will return to work on Tuesday, meaning we’ll do it all again in reverse.

Originally published as Staff shortages cripple airports as demand for workers soars across Australia