Staff shortages have contributed to an average of one flight cancellation every three days across Australia over the past year, according to Airservices Australia.

Airservices Australia deputy CEO Peter Curran told a Senate hearing that Australian airports recorded 2,536 cancellations in the year to August 31, with 121 attributed to Airservices. Sydney accounted for 103 of those cancellations.

Sydney Airport experienced further disruption on Friday, with 14 inbound flights cancelled and additional outbound cancellations after overnight staff were unavailable, Curran said.

Airservices and airlines manage staffing shortages by delaying or cancelling flights when there are not enough air traffic controllers available.

Curran said Sydney now requires a roster of 41 air traffic controllers, while 49 are employed. Eight were unavailable at the time of the hearing.

He said short-term illness or other staff unavailability could make it difficult to recover from disruptions.

Around 1,100 air traffic controllers currently work across Australia, with another 91 expected to join over the coming year.

Curran said Airservices expected additional recruitment to provide enough on-call staff to cover two absences a day by March 2027.

He acknowledged the model was not guaranteed to prevent future disruptions, but said it would reduce the likelihood of similar problems.

The staffing pressures come as Australian airports continue to manage strong passenger demand and operational challenges across the aviation network.

Source: The Guardian / AAP