Originally Posted by News.com.au
Flight chaos caused by two air traffic controllers failing to show up to work
The true reason for widespread chaos at airports around the country with mass flight cancellations and disruptions has been revealed.
The true reason for widespread chaos at airports around the country with mass flight cancellations and disruptions has been revealed - two members of staff not turning up to work. Two air traffic controllers who failed to report for duty at Sydney Airport on Monday are behind the disruptions.
Due to the two staff members’ absence, Airservices requested a ground delay program from 3pm until the airport’s curfew at 11pm.This led to Qantas flights experiencing an average delay of 72 minutes, while Virgin flights were delayed roughly 95 minutes
The government agency responsible for staff, AirServices Australia, was grilled today by Liberal Senator Bridget McKenzie who did not hold back. Senator McKenzie said it was “incredible that two people don’t show up for work and the entire country is shut down”. “When Sydney experiences disruption, the whole country suffers and international travellers are also missing connections as a result of this,” she said. “I want to understand your response to this?” she asked AirServices CEO Jason Harfield. Mr Harfield said two air traffic controllers had called in sick, which had resulted in the slowdown in flight movements in and out of Sydney.
Despite having “948 operational air traffic controllers”, Mr Harfield said they had not been able to replace the two who were sick on Monday. He conceded flight delays directly attributable to Airservices had worsened since the Covid pandemic, when about 140 experienced air traffic controllers were given the option of early retirement.
Mr Harfield also faced questions about a workplace survey undertaken by Elizabeth Broderick, which showed bullying and harassment before Senator McKenzie challenged Mr Harfield to rate his own performance given his “million-dollar salary”.
He suggested a “B”.
A spokespesron for AirServices Australia told news.com.au “safety is always our first priority”. “Airservices is enhancing its service resilience by recruiting and training more than 100 new air traffic controllers (ATCs) nationwide since 2020,” the spokesperson said. “More than 70 new ATCs are due in FY2024 and a further 80 ATCs are projected to join us each year moving forward to add further depth to our ATC rosters.”
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"70 Controllers "are due""... That's a forecast. Ask BoM how often they get
theirs wrong. Or ask an actual ATC'er how many graduate from the school and then take to get trained in each position?
As I said before, if you're an ATCO,
don't work OT,
don't come in at short notice to cover another absence if you haven't had a good rest,
don't extend your shift to cover your relief not making it in.
Do your regular rostered hours and not a second more. Go home to your spouse on time, take the kids for a walk to the park and if you need to, take a personal day to make sure you can go to your kids soccer grand final. The system may be broke, but it
is not your responsibility to fix. Look after yourself and your family and leave work behind when you get in your car. Let
us deal with the delays and diversions and cancellations.