Australian airports brace for chaos as winter school holidays come to an end

Travellers at Australia’s domestic airports are in for a nightmare day of travel as airlines are overwhelmed by end of school holidays traffic.

Australian airlines are bracing for a hectic day at domestic airports as hundreds of thousands of customers fly home on the last day of school holidays.

Qantas and Jetstar have seen 350,000 customers board flights across Australia over the last four days as the winter holidays come to an end.

Last week, severe weather in NSW and a spike in Covid and flu cases for operating crew caused flight delays and cancellations for all domestic airlines.

The chaos has also extended to the international airport with the baggage collection hall packed with travellers just after 7am Sunday.

But the carousels were empty with not a single bag, one customer reported.

Travellers at Sydney Domestic Airport queue have been advised to arrive 2 hours ahead of schedule. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Is this the face of labour shortages? @SydneyAirport
’s international baggage hall is packed without a bag in sight on some of the carousels pic.twitter.com/Gsv1aPvT65

— Colin Cosier (@colincosier) July 16, 2022

At least 16 flights had been cancelled at Sydney’s domestic terminal before 8.30am on Sunday.

Qantas had 85 per cent of domestic flights depart within an hour of schedule last week.

“Our on-time performance isn’t where it needs to be, but we’re continuing to make changes,” a Qantas spokesman said.

The airlines are warning the delays will continue over the busy weekend as operations continue to be impacted by crew taking sick leave.

Melbourne Airport Chaos Continues. Arrived at 6.30 am from a international flight, baggage will be delivered in 2hrs at the latest due the staff shortage.

— Avinash Ajgaonkar (@IndAuAsh) July 16, 2022

At least 16 flights had been cancelled at Sydney’s domestic terminal before 8.30am. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

At one of Melbourne’s airport, a customer took to Twitter to share that their baggage could arrive up to two hours after they arrived from an international flight.

“We thank customers for their patience during what is traditionally a very busy time and thank our people for their hard work over these school holidays and beyond,” a Qantas spokesman said.

Meanwhile in Perth, flight cancellations are causing major disruption to travel plans.

Got to Perth airport at 10.30am for an 11.45 flight home to Darwin with Virgin. Flight cancelled and rescheduled to Tuesday. Tried Qantas - one way $1300 for Sunday! What the hell is going on??? We need more competition as these two aren’t up to the job! #auspol

— 💧🌈🌏👠Deborah (@deblamb42) July 16, 2022

Airports across Australia are struggling against staff shortages due to sick leave. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

One Twitter user shared their flight home to Darwin with Virgin Airlines has been cancelled on Saturday morning.

The airline reportedly rescheduled their flight to three days later on Tuesday.

“What the hell is going on?,” the customer wrote.