Two workers were temporarily stood down after a Jetstar plane narrowly avoided hitting a Qatar Airways plane at Sydney airport on Sunday. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

Incident Details

On Sunday, a Jetstar plane taxiing for takeoff narrowly avoided colliding with a Qatar Airways plane that was being towed across the runway. As a result, a cabin crew member aboard the Jetstar plane was injured, and some equipment was damaged.

Minister's Response

Transport Minister Catherine King summoned Airservices Australia chief executive Rob Sharp to a meeting in Canberra on Monday. King described the delays and the incident as "unacceptable." Two staff involved – an air traffic controller and the tug driver towing the Qatar plane – were stood down while they completed standard post-incident drug and alcohol testing.

King said Airservices Australia has committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney's air traffic controllers from early September. "Airservices have committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney's Air Traffic Controllers that will be implemented from early September," she said. She added that the situation would be "carefully" managed for the rest of August.

Staffing Issues

Staff shortages at Sydney Airport had already caused days of disruption. The temporary loss of an air traffic controller only exacerbated delays. King said a new Sydney Tower simulator had been installed to increase training capacity and enable more controllers to be trained. "It has been a big focus of ours to encourage more people to enter the profession, and 95 people are expected to be endorsed as air traffic controllers by the end of the year," she said. "Six controllers are currently training in Sydney Tower, with another 15 expected to commence before the end of 2027."

King praised the air traffic controllers, who are dealing with "a really stressful and difficult job" and "did a very good job over the weekend to try to manage the disruptions as best they could."

Investigation

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating both the Sunday incident and the 27 July near-miss involving Qantas aircraft. ATSB chief Angus Mitchell said on Monday that both incidents were unacceptable. "Planes should not be getting that close and we should never have to rely on, as has happened in both these instances, pilots at the last minute, making an emergency decision to prevent them coming together," he told ABC radio.

Investigators will interview flight crew, tug operators, air traffic controllers, and other witnesses, and review CCTV footage. A source told Guardian Australia that initial inquiries suggested the tug vehicle pulling the Qatar aircraft may not have followed instructions.

Union Reaction

Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers' Union, which represents air traffic controllers and airport ground crews, said the aviation industry was in "crisis" due to staff shortages and poor conditions. "Across the industry, this revolving-door workforce is understaffed and exhausted," he said. "We've seen another worker hurt from this incident after a horrific string of injuries and a worker killed at Qantas Freight last year."

Qatar Airways was contacted for comment.