in brief
- A Virgin flight had its takeoff cancelled after a Qantas plane crossed its path on the runway.
- ATSB has launched a safety investigation into the incident.
Australia's transport safety watchdog has launched an investigation into a third near-collision incident between two planes at Sydney airport in as many weeks.
The potential collision happened just hours after a similar incident last week made national and international headlines and sparked widespread safety concerns. A crew member was injured in that incident.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau announced on Thursday night that it had opened an investigation into the runway incursion involving two Boeing 737 jets at 10am on 9 August.
"The incident occurred when a Virgin Australia 737 was cleared by air traffic control (ATC) for take-off from Sydney’s runway 34L," the ATSB said in a statement to SBS News.
"As the crew applied thrust for take-off, they observed a Qantas 737 crossing the runway ahead of them on taxiway Lima.
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"The Qantas crew reported they had been cleared by ATC to cross the runway.
"Upon seeing the Qantas aircraft, the Virgin Australia crew reduced thrust and the aircraft came to a stop, roughly a kilometre from the intersection."
The Qantas jet crossed the takeoff path of the Virgin flight, forcing ATC to cancel the latter's departure clearance "at the same time".
The ATSB said investigations were already underway, with evidence being gathered and interviews with the involved parties expected to be conducted.
On Sunday, a Jetstar flight had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a Qatar Airways plane being towed across the tarmac.
The two weekend incidents come just weeks after two Qantas flights, with ATC permission, managed to narrowly avoid contact in Sydney at the end of July.
All three incidents are under investigation by the national transport safety watchdog, which operates "no fault" fact-finding missions in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring, rather than to take punitive action.
On Monday, ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said that the Jetstar-Qatar incident "could have been far more serious" and that incidents like that "shouldn't happen".
"We do have an aviation sector that is the envy of the world. That's not to say that with incidents like this, we don't take them seriously to improve," he said.
"But aircraft movements, whether it be in a busy airport or in the skies, are incredibly well coordinated here in Australia."
Airservices Australia — the government-owned corporation responsible for managing air traffic control across much of the country — admitted on Monday that it had been too reliant on overtime staffing hours.
Last weekend, hundreds of flights from Sydney were delayed after air traffic control workers called in sick.
Air traffic work is both demanding and needed 365 days a year. Experts have told SBS News that a high-performing air-traffic controller takes around five years to build up sufficient skills and experience.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said emergency meetings were held in Canberra on Monday following the disruptions to air travel but said she was "confident" that Airservices Australia was doing "everything they can to get on top of this".
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