Dozens of flights out of Sydney delayed up to 80 minutes

Dozens of flights out of Sydney were delayed on Friday morning by up to 80 minutes because of what the airline industry’s peak body says is a shortage of air-traffic controllers.

Sydney Airport’s Airservices Australia, which provides air-traffic control services, confirmed the delays but said they ended about noon and resulted in an average wait time of only 28 minutes.

Qantas said more than 75 flights across its businesses were affected.

At least 27 Qantas flights were delayed, 23 were held up at QantasLink and low-cost stablemate Jetstar had 25 of its flights delayed. QantasLink also said it cancelled four flights on Friday.

Virgin Australia confirmed morning flights on Friday experienced delays up to 80 minutes but said its teams were working to minimise disruption.

Airservices Australia said it enacted Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) measures at Sydney Airport because of operational restrictions to safely manage projected airborne and departure demands.

Stephen Beckett, chief executive of airline peak body A4ANZ, said the air-traffic control group needed to step up.

“[They need to] ensure there are enough air-traffic controllers, so that when people are unwell or have other commitments, the national network doesn’t grind to a halt,” Beckett said.

Delays at Sydney, a key airline hub, have cascading effects through Australia’s air network.

Airservices acknowledged the ATFM measures, which have now been removed, caused disruptions to airline scheduling. The effects lasted from 8.20am to 11.15am. “However, capacity has now been restored and no further significant delays are anticipated,” it said.

Beckett said while the delays may be over for Airservices Australia, there was still “chaos is in the network”.

“Thousands of passengers are disrupted, with some missing international connections. This has to stop,” he said.

But Airservices Australia said ground delays have decreased by 13 per cent over the year to June 2026, to be less than 0.1 per cent of total network delays for the financial year.

At the same time, in June almost 85 per cent of Qantas flights departed on time, according to aviation analytics firm OAG, ranking the airline as one of the world’s most punctual.

Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics data shows Qantas has ranked number one for punctuality for the eighth year in a row with more than 81 per cent of Qantas domestic and regional flights departing on time across the year to June. Qantas said in July that this was the best result since 2019 “outside of COVID”.

Sydney Airport, which is among the most congested, will soon have crosstown competition with the opening of Western Sydney International. The new airport will not have the same slot constraints or curfews that Sydney Airport has.

Airservices said its air-traffic controllers are “incredibly proud and dedicated to performing what is a demanding, safety-critical role”.

Beckett acknowledged Australia has “an incredibly safe aviation industry” and said our air-traffic controllers do “an amazing job”.

Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for our breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.