Huge queues and delays at Sydney Airport on the first day of school holidays amid warnings of travel chaos across Australia over Easter
- Travel chaos and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports for third day running
- Delays of up to two hours made for a painful start to the school holidays for many
- Check-in queues snaked out of the terminals and onto the pavement outside
Chaotic delays at Australia’s biggest airports are continuing for a third straight day as the school holidays begin and Covid-hit airline staff struggle to cope.
NSW and Victorian school holidays started on Saturday and families had a frustrating start to their breaks with more delays of up to two hours at major airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Passengers who arrived at 5.30am for 7am domestic flights at Sydney on Saturday were greeted with the terminal crammed with people rapidly growing frustrated by long, slow-moving lines.
Chaotic delays at Australia’s biggest airports are continuing for a third straight day as the school holidays begin and Covid-hit airline staff struggle to cope
On Thursday and Friday check-in queues stretched out for up to 1km long in scenes not seen at Sydney airport for years.
The airport chaos was being repeated on Saturday as the public rediscovered the travel bug at the same time as airlines were struggling with Covid-affected staff numbers.
‘First day of our first holiday in 2-plus years going well,’ tweeted Sydneysider Penny from a packed domestic terminal.
‘Who at Sydney Airport woke up one morning and said “we won’t need to look at surge capacity for Easter school holidays travel” then went back to sleep? Do Better!’
The airport chaos was being repeated on Saturday as the public rediscovered the travel bug at the same time as airlines were struggling with Covid-affected staff numbers (pictured, passengers queuing at Sydney airport)
On Thursday and Friday check-in queues stretched out for up to 1km long in scenes not seen at Sydney airport for years.
The delays were also happening Brisbane and Melbourne.
‘It’s not good at Tullamarine either. Had to wait 75 minutes for luggage, the excuse given “man power issues”. Not good enough Qantas.’
Brisbane’s domestic airport was frantic too, experiencing its heaviest day of passenger traffic for two years on Friday, with 51,000 people using the terminal.
There were concerns the chaotic scenes will only continue into next week with Easter starting next weekend.
Melbourne airport used social media to warn travelers they needed to arrive three hours early for international flights and two hours ahead of departure for domestic flights.
That is an hour earlier than usual recommended arrival times – but even that didn’t seem to alleviate delays with jam-packed terminals leading to fraying tempers.
The delays are being caused by a combination of an increased desire to travel, reduced staff numbers, partly due to Covid-affected workforces, and what Qantas chief Alan Joyce called passengers not being ‘match fit’.
On Friday he claimed many were not properly prepared for security scans, for instance forgetting to remove aerosol cans and leaving laptops in cases, which slowed up queues.
There were concerns the chaotic airport scenes will only continue into next week with Easter starting next weekend (pictured, Sydney airport)
Joyce later backtracked saying he didn’t intend to blame passengers.
Qantas also faced renewed criticism on social media over job cuts it made during the pandemic.
The airline sacked 2,000 ground crew – baggage handling and cleaning workers – in 2020 and were taken to the Federal Court by the Transport Workers Union.
On social media some observers said they would rather cop a 10 hour drive or eight-hour train trip than the chaos in airport terminals this week.
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