Sydney Airport chaos: Flights across Australia delayed after air traffic controllers called in sick

There have been chaotic scenes at airports across Australia, with travelers losing connections or suffering long delays – all because two employees called in sick.

Absent Sydney control tower staff left a gap that could not be filled on Monday, forcing Airservices Australia to request a ground delay program from 3pm until the airport’s 11pm curfew, sparking nationwide chaos.

Many Qantas and Virgin Australia flights were affected, with passengers experiencing delays of more than an hour, while some had their flights cancelled.

The government agency responsible for staff, Airservices Australia, confirmed it had been forced to reduce flights by about 50 percent.

International tourists missed their connecting flights as Qantas and Virgin flights were delayed by more than an hour (stock image)

The reduction meant that the usual number of 50 takeoffs and landings per hour was reduced to just 26 per hour.

Qantas flights experienced an average delay of 72 minutes, while Virgin Australia flights were delayed by more than 90 minutes.

Airservices Australia was questioned in Parliament’s Senate committee on Monday by an irate Liberal Senator Bridget McKenzie.

“(It’s) unbelievable that two people don’t show up for work and the whole country is shut down,” she said.

‘If Sydney is disrupted, the entire country will be affected and international travelers will also miss connections.’

“I want to understand your reaction to this?”

Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield told the Senate that none of the 948 air traffic controllers across the country could replace the two sick workers.

It was also revealed that air traffic controllers are entitled to unlimited sick leave.

Mr Harfield also explained that flight delays directly attributable to Airservices had worsened since the Covid pandemic.

At that time, approximately 140 experienced air traffic controllers had the option of early retirement.

The widespread chaos was caused by only two employees calling in sick. The photo shows Sydney Airport

Liberal Senator Bridget McKenzie on Monday blasted Airservices Australia, the government agency that handles air traffic crews

Airservices Australia said safety is its first priority.

“We have temporarily reduced traffic throughput to safely manage flights within available capacity,” it said in a statement.

‘Airservices is increasing the resilience of its services by recruiting and training more than 100 new air traffic controllers (ATCs) nationwide since 2020.

“Over 70 new ATCs are planned in FY 2024 and an additional 80 ATCs are expected to join us each year to add even more depth to our ATC rosters.”