Qantas says air traffic control in Australia like Afghanistan

Extensive flight delays and flight cancellations on Monday have been blamed on the absence of two air traffic controllers from the Sydney Airport tower, highlighting the ongoing problem of staff shortages at Airservices Australia.

Sydney Airport’s air traffic control tower had slowed flight movements on Monday due to the absence of two controllers. Picture: AAP

Extensive flight delays and flight cancellations on Monday have been blamed on the absence of two air traffic controllers from the Sydney Airport tower, highlighting the ongoing problem of staff shortages at Airservices Australia.

As flight movements were slowed to 26 an hour from 50 because of the unplanned leave, Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield faced a Senate committee examining aircraft noise.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who had sought for the inquiry to include an examination of Airservices’ performance, grilled Mr Harfield on the situation at Sydney Airport.

Senator McKenzie said Qantas was experiencing an average flight delay of 72 minutes out of Sydney and Virgin Australia 95 minutes because of the understaffing.

“When Sydney experiences disruption, the whole country suffers and international travellers are also missing connections as a result of this.

“I want to understand your response to this,” Senator McKenzie put to Mr Harfield.

“What is happening in the Sydney tower because the weather is fine, so there’s only one other reason for the excessive delays going out of Sydney.”

Mr Harfield said two air traffic controllers had called in sick, which had resulted in the slowdown in flight movements in and out of Sydney.

Despite having “948 operational air traffic controllers”, Mr Harfield said they had not been able to replace the two who were sick on Monday.

“It’s pretty incredible that two people don’t show up for work and the whole country is shut down,” Senator McKenzie responded.

Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield.

The long-serving Airservices chief was also taken to task over the reliance on “TIBA” or traffic information broadcasts by aircraft, when sufficient numbers of air traffic controllers were not available.

Although major airlines refused to operate through such airspace because of a reduction in safety, Mr Harfield insisted TIBA added “an extra layer” of safety.

“Where we don’t have a qualified air traffic controller to provide the service, we set up a temporary restricted area, and have a person to monitor that airspace,” he said.

“At the same time they provide a flight information service, and we add an additional protocol, which is the aircraft need to broadcast their position.”

Senator McKenzie said if it was safer, airlines would not object to operating through that airspace. “You’ve set up a system our airlines refuse to fly under,” she said.

“It’s the operational decision of the airlines – some airlines do fly through, it’s their choice,” Mr Harfield replied.

He conceded flight delays directly attributable to Airservices had worsened since the Covid pandemic, when about 140 experienced air traffic controllers were given the option of early retirement in return for a handsome package.

Mr Harfield said it was not a shortage of staff or experience that was the issue but how the system had evolved over time.

He also faced questions about a workplace survey undertaken by Elizabeth Broderick, which showed bullying and harassment remained a concern throughout the government agency, and employee morale was generally low.

Senator McKenzie challenged Mr Harfield to rate his own performance, given the problems facing Airservices and his “million-dollar salary”.

He suggested a “B” and then revealed that his position was up for renewal later this year.

As the industry regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has oversight of Airservices Australia and a spokeswoman on Monday said staffing levels were being closely watched.