Workers stood down, emergency meeting held with aviation boss after second near-miss at Sydney Airport
Two workers have been stood down as the federal government raises serious questions over the second near-miss between planes at Sydney Airport in a fortnight.
A Jetstar and Qatar plane nearly collided on the tarmac at the busy airport about 7.20am on Sunday morning, mirroring a similar runway conflict which saw a Qantas flight cleared to cross another of the airline’s plane that had just come in to land on July 27.
A Jetstar and a Qatar Airways plane came within metres of colliding on the tarmac at Sydney Airport. 9News
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King summoned Airservices Australia boss Rob Sharp for an emergency meeting on Monday to explain the dual incidents, which caused major delays for passengers.
“The delays and disruptions we have seen at Sydney Airport over the last three days have been unacceptable and have caused significant disruption to passengers, staff and airlines,” King said.
King said she is “confident” Airservices Australia is doing “everything that they can to get on top of this”, adding that better rostering was a priority after unplanned leave due to illness over the weekend contributed to staffing issues.
“Airservices have committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney’s Air Traffic Controllers that will be implemented from early September,” she added.
“I have made my expectations clear that Airservices must carefully manage the situation at Sydney for the rest of August.”
The pair also discussed Australia’s ongoing air traffic controller shortage.
Only 95 people are expected to be endorsed as air traffic controllers by the end of 2026 in Australia.
In Sydney, Airservices Australia has endorsed eight new tower controllers over the past 18 months.
“I do want to give a shout out to the air traffic controllers, who are dealing with a really stressful and difficult job,” King added.
“They did a very good job over the weekend to try to manage the disruptions as best they could.”
FlightRadar footage showing the planes nearly colliding on the tarmac. Supplied
Two workers have been temporarily stood down following the incident for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.
Sharp said Airservices Australia is committed to “improving the consistency” of its performance at Sydney Airport.
“I want to assure the public that safety is not compromised when issues with staffing levels occur,” he said.
“We put in place measures that reduce the traffic levels to ensure safety, but this can lead to flight delays.
“We are building a larger pool of stand-by air traffic controllers to increase our staffing contingency numbers at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, reduce overtime and deliver stable rosters.”
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief commissioner Angus Taylor commended pilots for preventing “what could have been far more serious” during the second incident.
However, he said incidents like the near misses on Sunday and July 27 simply “shouldn’t happen”.
“We do know that in both the incidents, two weeks ago and again yesterday, it was the actions of the pilots on board that prevented what could have been far more serious,” Mitchell told the ABC.
Catherine King said she is “confident” Airservices Australia is doing “everything that they can to get on top of this”. Alex Ellinghausen
Two near misses in two weeks
A Jetstar Airbus A320 destined for the Gold Coast with more than 100 passengers on board was heading to the runway when it came within metres of being hit by a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 using the same intersection about 7.20am on Sunday.
The Jetstar pilots hit the brakes, and a flight attendant carrying out final pre-flight checks fell over and was treated for minor injuries to her wrist.
It’s believed nobody was aboard the Qatar plane, which was being towed by a tug.
In a statement, Jetstar said it was investigating.
“Our aircraft was following instructions by Air Traffic Control when the pilots were forced to brake firmly after another aircraft came in close proximity,” a spokesperson said.
A similar near miss unfolded on the runway on July 27.
A QantasLink flight from Canberra and a Qantas 737 service from Queenstown almost collided about 8.14am after air traffic control cleared the 737 to cross the runway while the other plane was landing.
“ATC detected the conflict and advised both crews, with the 737 stopping after the holding point,” Qantas said in a statement.
Nobody was injured and the planes were not damaged.
The ATSB is investigating both incidents.
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