Sydney Airport faces fourth runway close call in a month as probe widens
Australia probes a fourth air traffic control incident at Sydney Airport after two Qantas planes were directed toward the same intersection.
Australia's transport safety regulator has opened an investigation into a fourth air traffic control incident at Sydney Airport in less than a month, after two Qantas aircraft were directed toward the same ground intersection.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said a Qantas Airbus A321 preparing to depart for the Gold Coast braked to avoid another Qantas aircraft, a Boeing 737 that had just arrived from Melbourne. The Boeing had been cleared to continue along a taxiway that the Airbus had been cleared to turn onto.
The ATSB said there was no immediate risk of collision, but it has launched an investigation to determine whether any contributing factors are shared with three other recent incidents at the airport.
Those incidents include a July 27 near-miss between a QantasLink Dash 8 and a Qantas 737 on the same runway, an August 9 incident where a Jetstar A320 braked suddenly to avoid a Qatar Airways Boeing 777, and a separate August 9 event where a Virgin Australia 737 stopped about a kilometre short of a Qantas aircraft crossing the runway.
The evidence collection phase will involve interviews with air traffic controllers and flight crew, along with a review of recorded data. A preliminary report is expected in six to eight weeks.
Separately, the ATSB said it had received a report from an air traffic controller expressing concern that staff were unprepared for complex airspace and procedure changes tied to the opening of a new international airport in Sydney's west. The report, filed in early June, cited a union survey in which more than 50 controllers voiced concerns about the limited time to learn the new material before changes took effect on July 9.
The controller drew parallels to the air traffic control situation in Washington, D.C., ahead of a deadly midair collision in January 2025. Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigated the report and found that Airservices Australia, the government entity employing controllers, had implemented appropriate training and operational support for the changes.