Sydney Airport racing to fill 5000 jobs in three weeks to avoid April travel chaos

With just three weeks until the July school holidays, Sydney Airport is pushing to fill 5000 jobs and avoid a repeat of the April chaos. Find out what jobs are available.

Sydney Airport is pulling out all stops to avoid a repeat of the April holiday chaos, launching a jobs drive to fill 5000 positions across Australia’s biggest gateway in just three weeks.

In the lead up to Easter, travellers were forced to queue for hours as understaffed security and check-in areas struggled to cope with the sudden surge in numbers.

Hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled as a result of the mayhem and thousands of bags went astray, prompting apologies from Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert.

With the July school holidays now just three weeks away, Mr Culbert said they were still trying to fill thousands of positions in areas such as security, retail, government agencies and ground services.

“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 5000 roles to fill,” he said.

Massive queues at Sydney Airport on April 15. Picture: Julian Andrews

“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 1200 roles to go which is incredibly challenging in this market.”

To help meet the enormous demand for staff, the airport planned to host a jobs fair from 10am to 4pm on Thursday June 16, on level three of the T1 international terminal.

The airport is desperately trying to fill 5000 jobs before the July school holidays. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dylan Robinson

Representatives of more than 40 of the largest employers at the airport would be on hand to meet prospective applicants, and answer any questions.

Regardless of the outcome, the airport was asking travellers to arrive as close as possible to two-hours before their domestic flight and close to three-hours before international flights.

It was not advisable for passengers to turn up any earlier than that, to help with queuing and congestion in the terminals.

“In the lead up to the July holidays it will be busy but we are doing everything we can to make sure people get away on time, including bringing people forward through the queues according to flight priority,” said Mr Culbert.

“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.”