Australian authorities have launched a comprehensive investigation into three near-misses at Sydney airport that put aircraft and flyers at risk. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed that they were investigating whether the incidents, which occurred within a space of two weeks, were isolated mistakes or evidence of a systemic problem with air traffic control. The most serious incident occurred on Sunday, when a Virgin Australia plane and a Qantas flight narrowly avoided a collision.
The Virgin Australia Boeing 737 had been cleared to take off, while the Qantas plane was approved to taxi on the same runway. The Virgin crew spotted the Qantas jet crossing the runway ahead and aborted take-off, stopping about 1km from the other plane. Earlier the same day, a Jetstar flight was preparing to take off when a Qatar Airways aircraft moved across the runway, prompting the Jetstar pilot to brake suddenly and narrowly avoid a collision.
On 27 July, two Qantas planes had similarly come close to disaster when air traffic control cleared a Qantas Boeing 737 to cross the runway even as a QantasLink Q400 flight was actively rolling during its landing. Transport safety bureau chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said, “I can reassure the travelling public that we will consider any organisational or systemic issues that may have contributed to these occurrences, and will do so in a comprehensive and timely manner.” The agency managing Australian skies, Airservices Australia, has defended its decision not to immediately report the latest incident, saying it did not meet the mandatory reporting requirements. However, the bureau has commenced an investigation and is seeking reasons for the delay in reporting.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also called for an investigation into the incidents. The Australian aviation sector has been grappling with staffing shortages since the Covid pandemic, when 140 experienced controllers left during a redundancy programme. Civil Air president Scott Nugent has warned that the air traffic control system at Sydney airport is under strain, with some controllers potentially doing more than 20 extra hours a week.
The investigation is ongoing, with the transport safety bureau working to understand why the incidents occurred and what can be done to prevent similar incidents in the future.
