Australian airports are experiencing their busiest day in two years as thousands of people fly out for the Easter long weekend, amid chronic staff shortages.
Passengers are being asked to arrive at least two hours early for domestic flights, with Sydney Airport saying about 82,000 passengers will need to get through under pressure security gates and check-in counters.
Sydney Airport has been buckling under the strain all week due to staff shortages and absences due to COVID-19 infections, resulting in enormous check-in queues.
"I know it's a difficult message to hear but Thursday is going to be another tough day for travellers, and I want to apologise in advance to anyone who is inconvenienced," Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said.
Queues of people are stretched outside the Virgin and Jetstar departure terminal at Sydney Domestic Airport. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
Nearly a million travellers are expected to pass through Sydney Airport, which is Australia's biggest domestic and international travel hub.
Transport Workers Union National Secretary Michael Kaine said baggage handlers, ground staff and security workers were under incredible pressure.
Many of those workers lost their jobs at the start of COVID-19 lockdowns as they did not qualify for federal government JobKeeper payments because they were employed by foreign companies.
"That's the underlying reason that we're seeing the staff shortages that are leading to this kind of day, with catastrophic scenes at our airport [in Sydney]," he told the ABC on Thursday.
While he acknowledged absenteeism due to COVID-19 was a factor, Mr Kaine blamed the Morrison government for denying JobKeeper payments to most airport workers.
Mr Kaine also blames airlines for outsourcing the jobs of ground staff, like baggage handlers and security workers, to foreign companies in the first place.
"Those 2,000 workers are ready, willing and able to come back to work but Qantas is not putting them back on, and now we're seeing this panicked response," he said.
It was hard to attract workers back into the aviation industry because of "a degradation of terms and conditions ... so there really is a problem", he added.
The union is calling for an independent commission to address the long term issues in the industry.
Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi urged travellers to be patient as the aviation industry adjusts to flights picking up again following a nationwide relaxation of COVID-19 social restrictions and border closures.
"COVID-19 decimated airlines and airports and resulted in thousands of highly skilled workers being stood down or made redundant," he said.
"Airlines and their suppliers are now scaling up their workforce but given the safety-critical nature of the jobs they do, recruitment and re-training can take time".
Melbourne Airport is forecast to see around 380,000 people go through over the next five days.
Adelaide Airport expects 25,000 travellers to enter its recently expanded terminal on Thursday and a similar number on Friday.
Brisbane Airport expects around 50,000 passengers.
