Queues and delays at Australian airports are expected to be at their worst ahead of the Easter long weekend, but security providers have warned the chaos stemming from staff shortages will continue into the second half of the year.
More than 82,000 people were expected to travel through Sydney airport’s domestic terminals on Thursday – the busiest day since March 2020 – while 350,000 were predicted to visit over the course of the long weekend. The travel peak comes as the airport struggles with security staffing that is 70% of pre-pandemic levels.
Senior executives at Sydney airport were ordered to leave their offices, along with retail and IT workers, to help manage departure queues as Covid infections, isolation orders and a structurally depleted workforce contributed to the issues plaguing airports across the country.
On Thursday morning, travellers heeding the call to allow extra time arrived at Sydney airport in the hours before its doors opened. Travellers reported queues forming outside some domestic departure halls before 4am – two hours before the airport’s curfew lifts.
3.55am Sydney Airport. I’m told doors open at 4am, no one (myself included) taking chances! pic.twitter.com/f4ojk2uQX8
— Andrea Crothers (@abcrothers) April 13, 2022
Traffic at departure drop-off zones was also considerably backed up before 5am, while queues of travellers lined up for security checkpoints stretched out to the car park.
While queues at Sydney airport had eased by mid-morning, they were expected to peak again by Thursday afternoon.
SYD domestic terminals AM update:
— Sydney Airport (@SydneyAirport) April 13, 2022
👨👩👧👦 82,000 domestic passengers expected today
🚶♀️Queues are long at domestic terminals but moving well
🕐 Most passengers clearing check-in and security within 1-hour
🛃 Queues expected to ease towards midday & peak again into the afternoon
Melbourne airport had more domestic passengers pass through its terminals on Wednesday than it did in March 2020 while Brisbane and Adelaide airports were expecting 50,000 and 25,000 domestic travellers respectively on Thursday.
Sydney airport’s chief executive, Geoff Culbert, apologised in advance to travellers affected by delays on Thursday.
But he insisted his organisation was “pulling every lever available to us to get people on their way safely” including “deploying senior executives and staff into our terminals to manage queues and ensure people make their flights”.
Delays were occurring not just at the security checkpoints in departure terminals. A shortage of baggage handlers has seen wait times for luggage to arrive on carousels balloon up to an hour after landing.
Air transport service staff – including security personnel at airports – are now recognised as critical workers in New South Wales and Victoria, which means they are exempt from the requirement to isolate for seven days if they are a close contact of a case, provided they are symptom-free.
As of 4.20am, the Jetstar queues at #Sydney airport are out the door. The airport only opened at 4am. Photos don’t do it justice. Everyone is being told you have to be in line 2 hours before you depart. pic.twitter.com/CfdkEqtQ8Y
— Harriet Tatham (@HarrietTatham) April 13, 2022
However, Culbert warned staffing issues would persist for Sydney airport because the company it contracts to provide security services, Certis, had been struggling to restore its workforce to pre-Covid levels.
Certis has been trying to recruit 100 new employees at the airport since December but has only hired 50, and they are still undergoing a two-month training accreditation course. Staff who joined in mid-February are only this week beginning to work at airport check-in gates.
Certis said in a statement: “The onboarding of new screening staff requires them to undergo an extensive training program before being deemed qualified to carry out the work. As more staff join in the weeks and months ahead, we expect some of the security challenges to ease, but rebuilding the workforce will take time.”
The Transport Workers’ Union and the United Workers Union – which between them represent airport security, baggage and other airline workers – blame poor work conditions in the sector for the shortages.
The TWU national secretary, Michael Kaine, said the current staffing shortages were “entirely predictable”. He blamed the Morrison government for failing to include the entire aviation workforce on jobkeeper – specifically employees that had been outsourced to international companies but continued to work locally.
“Many of these international companies that are outsourced to, such as Dnata and SNP Security [a subsidiary], didn’t get jobkeeper. Unsupported workers left the sector entirely and now don’t want to come back to casual and low-paid jobs,” Kaine said.
The UWU property services coordinator, Damien Davie, said Certis – which is Singaporean – did not qualify for jobkeeper due to its structure. He said many of the 250 employees Certis made redundant during the pandemic had since found jobs in other industries, including warehouses, with comparatively better pay and conditions.
“Sydney airport is an unattractive workplace for aviation security. If you were a decent employer, it should be pretty easy to ring up the people [who were] trained up but let go and say, we’re rehiring,” Davie said.
On Wednesday, Sydney passengers who arrived more than two hours before their flight were told check-in would not open until two hours before their departure. Rather than standing in a queue, these frustrated travellers were left to sit on the floor, further contributing to congestion in the terminal.
“We came out very early because we thought we were going to be queued up,” said Lez who was travelling home to Ballina with his wife. “We’ve already got tags on our bags but we were told we can’t check in our bags until 1.20pm.”
Lez’s Jetstar flight was set to depart at 3.25pm and he and his wife had made sure to arrive well in advance after they saw queues on the news.
Beverly, who was travelling home to Hobart, had a similar story. “I did believe that we had to be here early. But of course, then, check-in into the flight is still standard, you can’t check in until two hours before your flight,” she said. “It really could have been managed a little bit better.”
One positive is that business is booming for some airport retailers. Azucar cafe has become a refuge for travellers waiting until they can check in.
“It’s been absolutely crazy, it’s been packed from 6am every day for five days,” a barista said on Wednesday. “We have had to refill the fridge at least five or six times today.”
