Explainer: Why your flight has been delayed or cancelled

The latest delays and cancellations of flights have left holiday plans ruined and thrown airports in chaos. This is why it keeps happening.

Long queues of passengers snaking through terminals have become a familiar sight as airport chaos continues.

Australian airlines are gearing up for a hectic weekend at domestic airports as hundreds of thousands of customers fly home from school holidays.

Last week, Aussie carrier Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of domestic flights and just 44 per cent of its planes were on time.

And things were worse at Virgin Australia which cancelled 14.7 per cent of its flights, also recording only 43 per cent of planes running to schedule.

And it is a problem not confined to our shores.

From cancellations to staff shortages to mountains of lost luggage, millions around the world have had their holiday plans scuppered, just as the northern hemisphere enters its summer break period.

According to The Local, globally more than 25,000 flights have been scrubbed from August schedules this week. Of those almost 16,000 – nearly 60 per cent – were in Europe.

The airline issues have been ongoing since travel resumed after Covid restrictions began to lift around the world. But what is causing the chaos?

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There have been wild queues at airports, particularly during the school holidays. Picture: Tara Croser

Staff shortages

Tourism expert Dr David Beirman of the University of Technology Sydney told news.com.au staff shortages had been the fundamental cause of the issue.

“Airlines and airports have had trouble in re-employing and recruiting people to work for then

after so many lost their jobs during the height of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021,” Dr Beirman said.

“Many of these very talented people have literally left the tourism industry and it’s been a massive challenge to get them to come back.”

Last year, parliamentary hearing into the impact of the aviation workforce during Covid-19 found more than 30,000 aviation workers were stood down or laid off.

The industry suffered large job losses in the major airlines Virgin Australia cut 3000 jobs and discontinued the Tigerair Australia brand.

While Qantas outsourced more than 2000 ground handling positions at 10 Australian airports, made 6000 positions redundant and stood down 25,000 workers

School holidays

The school holidays have also been a factor in delays and cancellations.

With summer breaks in Europe and North America and winter school holidays in Australia, it is a peak period for travel.

As airports struggle to find staff, the added pressure of hordes of travellers has been too much to cope with for airlines.

Turkish Airlines had the highest number of cancellations in Europe with 4408 cancelled flights.

Wild weather

According to The Australian, wild weather around the country made the delays worse with Sydney Airport operating only one of three runways last Friday while fog slowed travellers arriving into Melbourne.

Throughout May, data from Bureau of Infrastructure Transport Research Economics showed Qantas flights were on-time an average of 60.7 per cent of the time, with a cancellation rate for the month of 7.1 per cent.

Meanwhile Virgin had an on-time rate of 65.7 per cent and a cancellation rate of 5 per cent.

Staff on sick leave

For the staff that airlines do have, a recent spike in Covid and flu cases has led to high numbers of workers off sick.

So after already being understaffed, airlines have been left scrambling to cover the work schedule.

Airlines are warning delays will continue this weekend as operations continue to be impacted by crew taking sick leave while thousands of Aussies head home in time for the start of the new school term (in some of the states).

People lining up at Adelaide Airport where 15 flights were delayed and six cancelled due to fog. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

How do we avoid the airport chaos?

Dr Beirman recommends travellers plan ahead.

“A method which worked very effectively in the 1980s was advance purchase fares which incentivised a lot of people to plan their travel well in advance because it would save them a lot of money,” he said.

“There is a need to reverse the trend of the past 20 years in which most travellers leave bookings to the last minute.

“As demand surges there is a need for methods which will stagger demand and make it more manageable and enhance the experience for travellers and service providers alike.”

– with NCA NewsWire