Sydney SYD on restricted operations 12 Sept - ATC shortage

[RooFlyer]

The AFR is reporting:

Sydney Airport to halt flights ahead of footy finals weekend (paywalled, sorry)

Flights departing from the country’s busiest airport are set to come to a halt mid-afternoon on Friday and face disruptions for much of the day due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Airservices has been forced to limit flights to four minutes apart since 10am on Friday and cancel all takeoffs from 3.30pm to 4pm at Sydney Airport due to staffing issues among departure controllers.

The disruption is expected to have knock-on effects for flights across the network, and will affect anyone heading out of Sydney to attend games for the NRL and AFL finals this weekend.

It also marks the return of the long-term trend of controller shortages causing flight cancellations and delays that has left major airlines fuming.

 

[markis10]

Problem solved, I have been called in to do an extra duty shift, just need a few months to get my ratings current ! lol, no chance

On a serious note Air Services have found extra staff to work this afternoon, crisis averted, until tomorrow.

 

[Aeryn]

Not seeing cancellations this evening but gates are taking a while to be allocated

 

[Saab34]

Was it someone’s lunch break or something? Only a short period.

 

[Aeryn]

Interestingly they are in the terminal tonight actively broadcasting for people without checked luggage wanting to fly earlier to Melbourne to head to gate 15.

 

[justinbrett]

Perhaps Airservices staff shortages are due to genuine illnesses, stress or an inability of management to retain sufficient fully trained staff, but there's also the possibility some might have just 'taken a sickie', conveniently on a Friday.

Never underestimate the corrosive influence of unions in Oz. Only 13 per cent of the total workforce are members, but unions have sway in essential sectors like transport. No wonder productivity in Australia is receding.

It’s not really the point. There aren’t enough redundancies in the staff roster, and this is a global issue (look at previous FAA statements)

Do some controllers chuck sickies? Sure, as much as any other profession. Is it coordinated? Perhaps on an individual level (I’ll call in sick and you can get the call out, win win) but nothing as organised as from the unions.

Basically, just need more controllers.