VIDEO: Lack of air traffic controllers causing large number of flight delays

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN, REPORTER:  It’s a busy time for Australia’s airline industry. Flights are almost at pre-pandemic levels - delays are up too. 

VOX POP:  There was an announcement over the speaker from the pilot as we were queuing up for the plane saying there was a delay.

VOX POP 2:  I have been stuck on the tarmac before with them saying, "We're just waiting for a gate."

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  While airlines are feeling the brunt of passenger dissatisfaction, they’re not entirely to blame.

JAMES GOODWIN, AUSTRALIAN AIRPORTS ASSOCIATION:  It’d surprise many passengers to learn that perhaps the reason for the delay or the cancellation is actually because of air traffic control not being able to staff those control towers.

JASON HARFIELD, AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA CEO:  Do we have enough staff to provide the services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year whether there are zero aircraft flying, or 1000 aircraft flying? No, we don't.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Government owned Airservices Australia is responsible for air traffic control and airport fire services.

Last financial year, the organisation was behind almost one-fifth of ground delays at the nation’s four biggest airports, including a staggering three-quarters at Brisbane Airport last month.

JASON HARFIELD:  We unfortunately had a bad month in December, and we are taking further actions to continue to reduce it.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Staffing was so tight last month that across seven east coast sectors dozens of flights were affected, with the most, 96, due to fly through airspace around Byron Bay.

It’s unclear how many of those flights were delayed or cancelled.

JASON HARFIELD:  When we have, whether it's an illness, or are unable to replace or a shortage for some particular reason of the controllers for that piece of airspace, we can't readily just grab somebody who's sitting next door and operate that piece of airspace because they don't have that particular qualification and certification for that piece of airspace.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Tom McRobert is a long serving air traffic controller and union president. He says staff are feeling the strain.

TOM MCROBERT, CIVIL AIR PRESIDENT:  Me, and like many others, did overtime shifts on Christmas or Christmas Eve.

You go into work thinking, are we are we going to have enough staff and are we going to be able to get everyone to their destination safely?

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield insists airspace never goes completely unmonitored when there’s a shortage, but the organisation has to manage the workload on remaining staff.

JASON HARFIELD:  We will always maintain safety being paramount. So we will sacrifice efficiency in order to always protect safety.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  For pilots, that may mean responsibility falls on them to communicate with each other in the sky.

On busy routes, some airlines will choose not to fly because of the risk.

JAMES GOODWIN:  We've got increasing concerns with the operational performance of Airservices Australia.

If they put a restriction on the airspace, then simply aircraft won't take off and land. That's a poor outcome for everyone.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Virgin and Qantas both declined an interview, but Qantas has raised its concerns with the federal government about the increasing frequency of uncontrolled airspace.

The airline says between October 2022 and September last year, there were 236 events where air traffic control services weren’t available, which affected almost 1400 Qantas Group flights.

JASON HARFIELD:  Delays last year mainly resulting, as a result of staffing impacts, did occur and there is no dispute on that but it is unacceptable.

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ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Airservices Australia is recruiting more staff to bolster its current ranks of more than 900.

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ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  But with fewer than 3 per cent of applicants passing the entrance exam, and a rigorous training process, it’s not a quick fix.

TRAINER:  Just some of key features, some of the wait points there, some of the airports.

JESSA MAE, TRAINEE:  I think it took about a year for me to even get accepted.

Once training begins, it's about two months of theory, then about a month or so learning the console itself. So how to operate it and then until then, maybe nine months or so, it's just all about being able to separate the traffic.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  In 2020 a report into the culture of Airservices Australia found more than 50 per cent of its staff reported bullying and harassment.

TOM MCROBERT:  The culture’s definitely difficult. The best way I would explain, I suppose how most of us feel at the minute is a little bit unappreciated.

JASON HARFIELD:  Bullying and harassment is something that we're always monitoring, and we will continue to monitor and we will continue to review it again to make sure what we're already doing is still working.

If not, what else do we need to do.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Tom McRobert is pleased more controllers are on the way but believes the staff shortage was largely of Airservices’ own making.

During the pandemic, 140 controllers aged between 56 and 65 were incentivised to retire.

TOM MCROBERT:  Many of them were in excess of 30 years’ experience, many of them are in areas that it's very hard to pass on that experience quickly.

JASON HARFIELD:  One-tenth or one in 10 of our air traffic controllers were at retirement age. And so 10 per cent of our workforce, were going to retire in the next year or so.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Transport Minister Catherine King is the minister responsible for Airservices Australia.

She declined 7.30’s request for interview but in a statement said the Coalition Government introduced the retirement scheme, and that Airservices has been dealing with staff shortages ever since, which her government was actively working to address.

The head of Airservices Australia says he’s confident his organisation will get back on track but can’t give a time frame on when delays will end.

JASON HARFIELD:  There is no magic date when it will no longer occur. Every week, and every day we are trying to reduce it and minimize it.

We should see every month improvements going forward.