Rear Window
The Super Bowl party that paralysed the nation
It reveals the brittleness of Airservices’ operations, vulnerable as they are to every tipple and sniffle.
Myriam RobinRear Window editorThe Monday morning before last, two Airservices Australia staff were unable to take up their post atop a control tower at Sydney Airport. Chaos ensued.
A ground delay program that began at 3pm restricted arrivals to 26 an hour (down from 40), causing cascading postponements throughout the nation. And we know all about it because, unlucky for him, Airservices chief Jason Harfield found himself at Senate Estimates that afternoon, where Senator Bridget McKenzie grilled him on what precisely caused the ruckus.
This article has been amended to note that certain statistics refer to ground delays caused by Airservices, rather than flight delays as a whole which can have other causes.
Subscribe to gift this article
Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?
Introducing your Newsfeed
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Find out moreRead More
Latest In Transport
Fetching latest articles