IN BRIEF
- A departing Jetstar flight has almost collided with a Qatar Boeing 777 on the runway at Sydney Airport.
- Passengers departing from Sydney Airport have experienced significant delays, a result of staff shortages.
Two planes have narrowly avoided collision on the tarmac at Sydney Airport, after days of significant delays.
A Jetstar Airbus A320 was entering an intersection at around 7am on Sunday morning when it suddenly braked to avoid being hit by an incoming Qatar Airways Boeing 777 — towed by a tug.
There were no passengers aboard the Qatar plane. However, the Gold Coast-bound Jetstar flight reported the injury of a staff member.
In footage uploaded to social media from inside the Jetstar plane, the pilot can be heard updating the passengers.
"With the sudden stop, we have had a situation where one of our cabin crew has been injured," they said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
They said the plane would return to bay once a safety car arrived.
The pilot told passengers that those directing the Qatar plane "didn't follow instructions".
"We were told to hold short and we were focused on crossing the runway, so only be chance at the last minute were we able to stop," they said.
Jetstar confirmed it has launched an investigation into the incident.
The near miss comes during a weekend of significant delays at Sydney Airport.
The airport warned of delays for over 150 flights on Saturday, including 95 Qantas services.
It's believed staffing shortages are responsible.
Airservices Australia, which manages the airspace, introduced reduced traffic movements due to rostering issues.
"Airservices akcnowledged the ATFM [Air Traffic Flow Management] measures may cause some disruptions to airline scheduling and is working with airlines to reduce delays and the impact on passenger travel as much as possible," an Airservices Australia spokesperson told the ABC.
"Airservices is enhancing our training pipeline to add further controllers to improve roster depth and is working to address rostering issues that reduce the flexibility of our workforce."
Travellers also experienced delays on Friday — however were reassured by Airservices Australia that capacity had been restored and they anticipated "no further significant delays" going into the weekend.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
