Australia’s world-class aviation safety record is being jeopardised by a series of recent runway near misses at Sydney and Melbourne airports, with a shortage of air traffic controllers likely playing a role, according to a leading aviation lawyer.
Peter Carter, director of Carter Capner Law, said Sunday’s collision between a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 under tow and a Jetstar A320 taxiing for departure at Sydney Airport was avoided at the last moment when both pilots stood on their aircraft brakes.
Carter said the incident was not isolated.
“At the same airport only two weeks ago air traffic control (ATC) cleared a Qantas 737 from Queenstown on runway 25 to cross runway 34L while a QantasLink DHC-8 from Canberra was landing on the same runway,” Carter said.
“In both recent incidents the aircraft were operating under ATC direction.”
Melbourne incident recalled
Carter also pointed to a serious incident at Melbourne Airport in September 2023, when an Airbus A330 and a Boeing 787 lifted off beyond the end of a runway that had been shortened for pavement repair work, passing metres above people and obstacles within an active worksite.
“A 350-person fireball was avoided only by chance,” he said.
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Industry pressure mounts on Airservices
The Sydney near miss has prompted Airservices Australia CEO Rob Sharp to be summoned to Canberra for emergency talks, with two staff members stood down pending an investigation into the incident. ATIA CEO Dean Long has since called on Airservices to lift its performance urgently, describing the airspace body as the last major part of the aviation sector still struggling to recover from COVID, and warning that ongoing staff shortages and outdated processes causing disruption for airlines, airports and travellers “simply cannot continue” five years on from the pandemic.
Airservices defends safety response
Sharp has since apologised for the wave of flight delays at Sydney Airport but maintained that the disruption stems from deliberate safety measures rather than a broken system. He said the flow-control steps used to manage staffing shortfalls were designed to keep traffic levels manageable, adding that this can lead to delays but does not compromise safety.
Sharp pointed to eight new tower controllers endorsed over the past 18 months, ongoing recruitment of trainee and experienced staff, and a new Sydney Tower simulator to boost training capacity, along with plans to build a larger pool of standby controllers at Sydney. He said Airservices was aiming to cut overtime and deliver more stable rosters, and noted that ATC-attributable disruptions had fallen 86 per cent nationally over the past financial year, with 95 new controllers expected to be endorsed this year and 55 already operational. Sharp acknowledged controller numbers had reached a record high, but said workforce demands had grown at a similar pace, making resilience-building central to the organisation’s response.
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“We sincerely apologise to passengers and our airline customers for falling short of those expectations,” Sharp said.
Controller shortage a global issue
Carter said there was a worldwide shortage of air traffic controllers, and while Airservices Australia had done a good job recruiting, training controllers to full qualification takes up to 12 months.
“Its recruiting program should have been started years earlier, as had been urged by the air traffic controllers’ union Civil Air,” he said.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an Airservices Australia retirement incentive scheme was taken up by 124 experienced controllers, whose expertise has proven difficult to replace as air traffic volumes recovered from 2023.
Carter said passenger numbers and flight movements were now well above pre-pandemic levels, but the number of controllers and relief staff needed to cover absences due to illness, overtime fatigue and work-life balance had not kept pace.
“The recent Jetstar and Qatar Airways near miss should serve as a warning that Australia must not become complacent about aviation safety,” he said.
“When aircraft movements are increasing and experienced air traffic controllers remain difficult to replace, there needs to be enough controllers and relief staff to ensure that safety does not depend on a last-second intervention by pilots or controllers.”
