‘Perfect storm’ hits Australia’s biggest gateway as travel takes off

Sydney Airport apologises to passengers as school holidays, staff shortages, bad weather and out-of-practice travellers result in 1km-long queues.

Massive queues at Sydney Airport are expected to be repeated multiple times over the next fortnight due to a “perfect storm” of staff shortages, holidays and rusty travellers.

As domestic travel roared back into life in the wake of border re-openings, airport security staff struggled to cope with the massive crowds on Thursday and Friday with similar scenes expected to play out in the lead up to Easter.

Exacerbating the problem, was a staff shortage due to the ongoing Omicron wave and many travellers having to be reprocessed after forgetting to remove items like laptops and aerosols from their bags.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert both apologised to passengers and asked for understanding, acknowledging the “perfect storm” of factors hitting Australia’s biggest gateway.

“Traffic numbers are picking up, travellers are inexperienced after two years of not travelling, and the close contact rules are making it hard to fill shifts and staff the airport,” Mr Culbert said. “We encourage everyone to get to the airport early and we ask everyone to be patient as the industry gets back on its feet.”

Little social distancing at Sydney Airport as domestic travel returns big time. Picture: James Ryall/Twitter

Mr Joyce said 18 per cent of staff were unable to come to work due to Covid rules, prompting a request to the New South Wales government for a change in self isolation requirements.

Currently airport workers are not classified as “critical” and must self-isolate at home if a family member tested positive to Covid.

“The second complexity is I think our customers are not match fit. I went through the airports on Wednesday and people forget they need to take out their laptops, they have to take out their aerosols,” Mr Joyce said.

“And a lot of the security people are new and they’re going to be cautious as they get up to speed on it. So that is taking longer to get through the queue.”

He urged travellers to arrive at least two hours before their flight to give themselves time to get through the system.

“I should also say that this is not unusual around the globe. In fact, it actually has so far been handled a lot better here,” said Mr Joyce.

“Just this week, easyJet cancelled a huge amount of flights in the UK, because of the same issues. The Americans have cancelled thousands of flights a few months ago, because of the same issues. We’re avoiding cancelling flights or very minimum, and we’re getting people to their destination.”

Other airports were also experiencing huge demand as confidence in domestic travel returned with a vengeance.

Brisbane Airport notched up its busiest day in more than two-years on Friday with 51,800 people using the domestic terminal.

Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin urged passengers to arrive early and maintain respectful behaviour throughout the holiday period.

“Many people haven’t flown for some time, so we encourage travellers to arrive at the airport in good time and to be prepared for their journey,” said Mr Goodwin.

“There may be different processes in place since the pandemic began including different security screening and check-in procedures as well as state health requirements.”

He said people should not travel if they were unwell and remember to heed the government’s face mask mandate in airports and on flights.

“As we all get used to travelling again it’s also important any frustrations are not taken out on airport staff who are working harder than ever to assist passengers,” Mr Goodwin said.

“We know that the majority of travellers will do the right thing but please remember to respect fellow passengers and staff and we can all enjoy a great start to the Easter break.”