Sydney Airport's 'core issue' exposed by third runway incident

Australia's transport safety watchdog has launched an investigation into why it took four days for Sydney Airport to notify it of a third near-collision incident between two planes in as many weeks.

The incident happened on Sunday, just hours after a similar one which made national and international headlines, sparking widespread safety concerns after a crew member was injured.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) announced on Thursday night it had opened an investigation into the runway incursion, which involved two Boeing 737 jets at 10am on Sunday.

On Friday, ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said that "something has gone wrong" and that action needs to be taken to ensure similar incidents don't occur again.

"We want to understand why there was a delay in the reporting to us," he told the ABC.

"Was there a breakdown in that communication and how do we strengthen it to make sure that we're not delayed in these notifications in the future?"

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 told SBS News in a statement.

"As the crew applied thrust for take-off, they observed a Qantas 737 crossing the runway ahead of them on taxiway Lima.

"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 Virgin flight's takeoff path, 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.

Earlier 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, narrowly avoided 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 to prevent similar incidents from occurring, rather than to take punitive action.

Staffing issues raised

Rob Sharp, the CEO of ATC organisation Airservices Australia, told reporters on Friday that the organisation did not report the incident to the ATSB because it didn't think it was necessary.

"Firstly, the controllers immediately rescinded the clearance. They recognised that there was a Qantas aircraft 1.3km away approaching the runway," he said.

"Secondly, the aircraft remained stationary, and, thirdly, the distance of 1.3km is quite substantial.

"Based on those criteria, it didn't meet the mandatory reporting requirements from our perspective."

The government-owned corporation responsible for managing air traffic control across much of the country admitted on Monday that it had been overly reliant on overtime.

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.

"The core issue in Sydney is we're not at a point where we've got a robust system in place," Sharp said.

"What I mean by that is we need additional air traffic controllers and the lead times are extensive."

Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said emergency meetings were held in Canberra on Monday following 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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