Sydney, Sept. 4 – Several air traffic controllers on duty during a July 27 Sydney Airport near-miss between two Qantas aircraft were flagged as high-fatigue risk under Australia’s fatigue management system, records show. A landing Qantas turboprop narrowly avoided a Boeing 737 cleared to cross the runway, the first of six near-misses at the airport in a month.
Of ten controllers on that shift, five held an H rating for high fatigue risk, one an M for medium and one an L for low, with three unranked. Two of three controllers directly involved were high-fatigue, and the third was medium-fatigue. A shift manager called staffing a bit insane in an internal recording, citing five high-fatigue staff that morning.
Airservices Australia declined to comment due to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation of all six incidents for common safety issues. Global air traffic controller shortages raise aviation safety risks as agencies handle overstretched workforces and fatigue from heavy scheduling.
The fatigue management system estimates risk via roster and workload factors rather than actual tiredness, allowing mitigations like longer breaks or traffic limits. Airservices noted unusually high short-term absences in Sydney that hampered filling shifts in the six weeks to August 28, highlighting staffing shortages at a major Australian airport.