Two workers were temporarily stood down after near-miss collision at Sydney Airport

Sydney Airport is implementing improved staff rostering and increasing training for air traffic controllers following a "near-miss" incident involving a Jetstar and a Qatar Airways plane, which led to two workers being temporarily stood down.

The incident occurred Sunday when a Jetstar plane narrowly avoided colliding with a Qatar Airways plane being towed across the runway. The two workers involved – an air traffic controller and the tug driver – were stood down for standard drug and alcohol testing. The temporary absence of an air traffic controller worsened existing delays at Australia's busiest airport, which has been struggling with staff shortages.

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The delays and disruptions were unacceptable, but I am confident that Airservices Australia is doing everything they can to get on top of this.

Transport Minister Catherine King described the delays and disruptions as "unacceptable" but expressed confidence in Airservices Australia's efforts to manage the situation. She announced that improved rostering practices for air traffic controllers would be in place from early September.

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Airservices have committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney’s Air Traffic Controllers that will be implemented from early September.

Additionally, a new simulator has been installed at Sydney Tower to boost training capacity, with 95 individuals expected to be certified as air traffic controllers by the end of the year. King acknowledged the stressful nature of the job and thanked controllers for managing disruptions over the weekend.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating both Sunday's near-miss and a similar incident on July 27, where a Qantas flight was cleared to cross a runway in front of another landed Qantas plane. ATSB head Angus Mitchell emphasized the unacceptability of planes coming so close, stating that pilots should not have to make emergency decisions to prevent collisions.

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Planes should not be getting that close and we should never have to rely on, as has happened in both these instances, pilots at the last minute, making an emergency decision to prevent them coming together.