Exclusive: We need around 10% more ATCs, says Airservices boss

“I don’t have a particular number that’s the target. What I’m looking at is the resilience in each location,” he said.

“So we have quite a mix of control towers. We have some in very small areas where there might only be a handful of controllers, and the issue there is: can we cross train and have controllers that could move into remote towers to keep our service levels up?

“And that’s something we’re investing in at the moment. In Sydney, it’s actually more about – and it’s probably the three or four major ports – where we will look to have effectively standby arrangements, and where we’re recruiting now is into that level.

“So somewhere around three to five per cent of the numbers would be in those major cities.”

Sharp was on Monday called into a meeting with Transport Minister Catherine King to address concerns over recent delays in Sydney that had flow-on effects across the network, as well as over two incidents at Sydney Airport where planes came close to colliding on the tarmac.

The first saw a QantasLink and Qantas domestic jet almost cross paths, while the second saw a Jetstar A320 need to brake suddenly, injuring a cabin crew member, to avoid hitting an empty Qatar Airways plane.

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“The delays and disruptions we have seen at Sydney Airport over the last three days have been unacceptable and have caused significant disruption to passengers, staff and airlines,” the Minister said in a statement.

“This morning, I had a constructive meeting with the CEO of Airservices Australia, to discuss the challenges staff and passengers have experienced at Sydney Airport.

“Airservices have committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney’s Air Traffic Controllers that will be implemented from early September. I have made my expectations clear that Airservices must carefully manage the situation at Sydney for the rest of August.”

Minister King noted that a new Sydney Tower simulator has been installed to boost training capacity, and said she and Sharp had discussed the work of ATCs.

“This is a highly technical role, with a high level of responsibility. They do important work to keep the travelling public moving safely and efficiently, and I thank them for their dedication and professionalism,” she said.

“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. Six controllers are currently training in Sydney Tower, with another 15 expected to commence before the end of 2027.

“These are vital but demanding roles, and I’ve asked Airservices to ensure controllers are receiving the support they need to perform at their best.”

Sharp told Australian Aviation that the Minister’s concerns had been received, and said he was “very happy” to inform her of the underlying issues and Airservices’ plan to address them.

“It was a very constructive conversation, but quite clearly the message is, we’ve got to lift our performance. We’re not meeting the expectations, and that was a clear takeaway, but we do have quite a detailed plan,” he said.

“The challenge is that we can’t just click our fingers and fix a structural challenge. It’s going to take a little bit of time. So, the message has been very much for us to continue our priority focus on these operational challenges at Sydney.”

The tourism industry has criticised Airservices for its recent headaches, with Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) CEO Dean Long saying it was “the last major part of Australia’s aviation sector still struggling to recover from COVID”.

“Airlines, airports and the broader travel industry have rebuilt their workforces and operations, but Airservices continues to be a major choke point for Australian aviation,” he said.

“Staff shortages and processes that are not match-fit for today are causing significant disruption for airlines, airports, travel businesses and, ultimately, Australian travellers. Five years after COVID, this simply cannot continue.

“There needs to be far greater transparency from Airservices about what is driving these ongoing problems and, most importantly, a clear plan to fix them.

“Whether the answer is more staff, better training or improved processes, Airservices needs to lift its performance urgently and get the system operating at the level Australians and international visitors deserve.”

In a separate statement, Sharp apologised for the recent disruptions, but said “safety is not compromised when issues with staffing levels occur” and that Airservices is building a larger roster of standby ATCs to increase contingency numbers at Kingsford Smith.

“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our air traffic controllers, disruptions due to air traffic control across the aviation network have reduced by 86 per cent over the past financial year,” he said.

“Airservices-attributable ground delays fell 13 per cent and accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of total network delays. However, we understand that any delay has an impact on passengers and we are committed to making further improvements, particularly in Sydney.

“While concerted recruitment efforts in recent years have enabled us to grow air traffic controller numbers to a record high, the demands on our workforce have also grown significantly.

“Building workforce resilience is central to our effort to match that increasing demand. We expect to endorse 95 air traffic controllers this year, with 55 already becoming operational so far.”

Airservices says it currently has around 120 trainees in its pipeline.