Reports today from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, following 6 recent incidents between passenger aircraft at Sydney Airport in under two months, show the urgent need to act on severe understaffing of air traffic controllers.
The interim reports identify fatigue and understaffing issues, with one controller involved flagged as “high predicted fatigue levels.” They also include an incident that was reported by Virgin Australia, instead of by Airservices, despite it being a reportable incident under Australian regulation.
The ATSB interim reports are released ahead of a Safety Assurance Review by CASA, gathering direct feedback from air traffic controllers working in Sydney Tower, set to be released in October.
During joint stakeholder meetings between unions, Airservices, CASA, airlines and the Federal Government, in which Airservices has continually downplayed significant understaffing issues at Sydney Tower, the TWU has called for industry cooperation on urgent short-term fixes, especially with the imminent opening of Western Sydney International, as well as a longer-term plan to repair the broken sector.
It is also calling on the Federal Government to urgently legislate on its commitment to an Aviation Coordination Council robust enough to reform an industry that is increasingly unsafe when left to its own devices, with other sectors of the aviation industry also under crisis conditions.
The report follows hundreds of Qantas Freight and Sydney Airport security staff strike around the country over years of cost-cutting to critical services, with one Qantas Freight worker tragically killed last year.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
“These reports from the ATSB, including an incident not even reported at the time by Airservices, show we cannot wait any longer to address the critical understaffing that has pushed air traffic controllers to crisis levels.
“While airlines, airports and Airservices are all pointing the finger of blame at each other, workers are experiencing enormous levels of pressure at every level, and the travelling public is in potential danger.
“Across our airports, aviation workers are running on empty. This is not just a Sydney Airport problem, and it’s not just affecting air traffic controllers.
“Workers all the way from the tarmac to the flightdeck are fatigued, understaffed and rostered to maximum limits, while airports and airlines are making mammoth profits.
“We need action from Airservices, and we need the Federal Government to legislate its promised Aviation Coordination Council to bring sense back to an industry that’s gone berserk on short-term profits.”
