Airports clogged with queues as travel rebound strains resources

Understaffed airports and airlines from Australia to Europe are struggling to cope with a fresh rush of travelers, with long queues and flight disruptions expected to persist as the busy Easter weekend approaches. Passengers checking in at Sydney Airport this week have waited for hours in queues snaking outside terminals. Staff absences are running as high as 50% at Qantas, while the airport’s workforce is little more than half its normal size. The UK has also been hit by disruptions and flight cancellations. The aviation industry axed hundreds of thousands of workers to get through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. That left airports and airlines short of staff to handle an upswing in travel as much of the world drops entry restrictions, while the virus continues to ripple through flight crews and ground workers. Sydney Airport, Australia’s international gateway, has called the combination of factors a “perfect storm.” “We just can’t get staff,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said on Australian television Tuesday. “It’s going to be like this for a little while.” Domestic parking is currently full and is forecast to be right through the Easter long weekend. Culbert said on some days the airport can find itself running at 60% staff capacity while having to process more than 80% of pre-Covid passenger volumes. “The maths leads you to where we are,” he said. Ahead of the Easter holiday, there’s already nowhere to park at Sydney Airport for those taking a domestic flight. The rebound in some major markets including the US has caught airlines and airports on the hop. Smaller markets such as Thailand and Singapore that are yet to reopen to the same degree aren’t seeing the same delays. US airports are “chock-a-block” with travelers, AirAsia Group founder Tony Fernandes said Tuesday. He said a similar recovery in air travel in Asia, where restrictions in places such as China remain, was still a few months away. <br/>