In a tense moment on the tarmac at Sydney Airport, two planes came alarmingly close to colliding amidst a backdrop of notable delays.
On Sunday morning, around 7 a.m., a Jetstar Airbus A320 swiftly hit the brakes to avert a crash with a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 being maneuvered by a tug.
Fortunately, there were no passengers on board the Qatar Airways aircraft at the time. However, the Jetstar flight en route to the Gold Coast reported an injury to one of its crew members.
The incident was captured on video by a passenger inside the Jetstar plane and later shared on social media, where the pilot can be heard updating those on board.
“Due to the abrupt stop, one of our cabin crew members has sustained an injury,” announced the pilot, keeping passengers informed of the unfolding situation.
They said the plane would return to bay once a safety car arrived.
The pilot told passengers that those directing the Qatar plane “didn’t follow instructions”.
“We were told to hold short and we were focused on crossing the runway, so only be chance at the last minute were we able to stop,” they said.
Jetstar confirmed it has launched an investigation into the incident.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) issued a statement on Sunday afternoon, announcing it had opened an investigation into the incident.
The ATSB said it planned to collect data from both aircraft and air traffic control as part of its investigation. It will also seek to interview flight crew, ground staff and air traffic controllers on duty as well as any witnesses as the investigation proceeds.
It asked any witnesses who captured video footage of the incident to submit it via a witness form on its website.
The near miss comes during a weekend of significant delays at Sydney Airport.
The airport warned of delays for over 150 flights on Saturday, including 95 Qantas services.
It’s believed staffing shortages are responsible.
Airservices Australia, which manages the airspace, introduced reduced traffic movements due to rostering issues.
“Airservices akcnowledged the ATFM [Air Traffic Flow Management] measures may cause some disruptions to airline scheduling and is working with airlines to reduce delays and the impact on passenger travel as much as possible,” an Airservices Australia spokesperson told the ABC.
“Airservices is enhancing our training pipeline to add further controllers to improve roster depth and is working to address rostering issues that reduce the flexibility of our workforce.”
Travellers also experienced delays on Friday — however were reassured by Airservices Australia that capacity had been restored and they anticipated “no further significant delays” going into the weekend.