Melbourne airport urge passengers to arrive hours before flights and brace for major delays
Passengers have been urged to get to Melbourne Airport hours before their flight as staff shortages and tech failures cause chaos ahead of a massive travel weekend.
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Travellers bound for Melbourne Airport have been urged to arrive at least two hours before a domestic flight as airlines brace for major delays and a bumper weekend.
Massive lines at Australian airports have been created by staff shortages and technology failures and Tullamarine is expected to receive more than 380,000 passengers over the next five days.
To manage the demand, domestic travellers have been advised to get there two hours before a flight and three hours before an international journey.
In March, more than 1.7 million passengers travelled through the airport as travel numbers came close to levels not seen since before the pandemic.
Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi welcomed the figures, but warned of challenges as the aviation industry rebuilt.
“Covid-19 decimated airlines and airports and resulted in thousands of highly-skilled workers being stood down or made redundant,” he said.
“The airlines and their suppliers are now scaling up their workforce but given the safety-critical nature of the jobs they do; recruitment and re-training can take time.
“We know tens of thousands of people are planning to travel over the Easter holidays and that will put pressure on some parts of our operation, so we’d ask passengers to arrive early and be patient while we work to get them where they need to be.”
“As aviation recovers it’s important we look to the future, and that’s why we are upgrading our terminals and moving ahead with plans for a third runway, so that we have sufficient capacity to cope with forecast demand.”
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