iscover
At a press conference in Canberra, Sharp told reporters that the tower controllers were experienced ATCs undergoing an endorsement process, and said Airservices had not believed the incident met the threshold for its mandatory reporting requirements.
The incident on 9 August saw Virgin Australia flight VA555 from Sydney to Perth, operated by VH-IJQ, abort take-off after Qantas flight QF728 from Sydney to Ayers Rock Airport, operated by VH-XZH, began crossing the runway ahead of it.
Speaking exclusively to Australian Aviation, Sharp said he feels Airservices should have around 1,200 air traffic controllers, and that current recruitment rates are the highest in its history. It comes as Airservices faces criticism for highly-publicised delays and near misses at Sydney Airport.
In its Australian Aviation Network Overview report for June 2026, Airservices found that total network passenger flights were up 1.5 per cent and volumes up 2.7 per cent over FY25, with industry performance and Airservices’ own performance also improving.
Developed following “extensive consultation with community and industry throughout July and August 2025”, Airservices says the new plan will reduce noise impacts from the airport for around 140,000 people.
Delays stretched from 30 minutes to an hour as at 9am on Sunday, though Airservices said the issues, caused by "short notice unplanned leave", were resolved by 11:30am. Civil Air, however, said it “emphatically rejects” the claims around leave.
PROFILES
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