Sydney Airport has been sent into disarray, with the perfect storm of staff shortages due to COVID-19, ‘inexperienced travellers’ due to two years of travel restrictions and an increase in passenger demand.
Travellers are having to wait lengthy periods of time at Sydney Airport, thanks to a not very appealing cocktail of Easter holiday travel demand, staff shortages and what Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is saying is travellers’ faults for not being “match fit”.
“I went through the airports on Wednesday and people forget they need to take out their laptops, they have to take out their aerosols… so that is taking longer to get through the queue,” he said.
Joyce also stated his workforce was down approx 30% daily, due to staff sickness.
Irate travellers have taken to Twitter to share their frustrations.
One Twitter user, in response to Joyce’s comments, said “Sydney Airport debacle blames passengers. B..LS…T. Just came back from overseas, 8 weeks. Singapore, busy, no problems, Istanbul, busy, no prob. Tel Aviv, busy, no prob. Paris, busy, no prob. SYDNEY, 7am not as busy, but CHAOS.”
The folks who run the Sydney Airport social accounts certainly have their work cut out.
Late last month Sydney Airport did put out a call encouraging domestic travellers to arrive two hours before their departing flight this Easter school holidays, as the Easter holidays were expected to be the busiest period for domestic air travel in two years.
“To help manage queues at security checkpoints and make sure everyone gets away on time, we’re encouraging domestic travellers to arrive two hours ahead of their scheduled departure,” said Greg Hay, Sydney Airport General Manager of Operations.
“We know arriving two hours ahead is going to mean some early starts but we want to see everyone clear security quickly and safely and get to where they’re going.”
“We’ve also noticed people are a little out of practice with security protocols, for example not taking laptops and aerosols out of their bag at screening points, which is contributing to the queues.
“Safety is the most important thing at Sydney Airport, and we want to thank everyone who is travelling during the Easter school holidays for their patience,” Hay concluded.
Overseas travellers currently have it better, with large crowds largely confined to the domestic terminals and operations running smoothly at the international terminal. However, they are being urged to be prepared and allow adequate time.
