Ongoing staffing gaps at Airservices Australia, the government-owned air traffic manager, disrupted operations at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, the country’s busiest. The organisation could not fully staff the control tower on Sunday morning after multiple workers reported in sick.
To keep operations safe with fewer controllers, departures were deliberately spaced out, slowing the entire schedule. Industry group Airlines for Australia and New Zealand says this is the fourth delay episode this year and says the system lacks sufficient backup capacity during peak periods.
Airservices Australia notified airlines early on Sunday that all Sydney departures would need to be separated by at least four minutes. A company spokeswoman said the disruption stemmed from several local staff taking short-notice unplanned leave, partly offset by internal “resilience” measures.
Virgin Australia reported average delays of about 30 minutes for its flights leaving Sydney while teams reworked schedules and managed passengers. The impact was particularly sharp because the incident landed at the start of the school holiday peak, when flight demand is already high.
Industry voices argue that repeated disruption at the same airport shows a structural staffing problem, not just bad luck with sick leave. Airservices Australia has previously acknowledged pressure on rosters and is trying to bolster resilience, but airlines say current measures are still too thin for peak travel windows.
