Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney and Melbourne airports as industry struggles with staff shortages

Widespread flight cancellations across multiple airlines have frustrated travellers at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Monday, as the industry grapples with staffing shortages as well as a technology glitch that affected Qantas flights on Sunday. Across Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex, 23 domestic flights were cancelled out of Sydney airport on Monday. Of those, 15 flights were Melbourne-bound, with eight of those cancellations from Qantas. Virgin Australia cancelled eight flights from Sydney to locations including Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the Gold Coast. At Melbourne airport there were 12 domestic flight cancellations on Monday: seven from Qantas, four from Virgin and one from Jetstar. Guardian Australia understands the cancellations were due to crew sickness, as cases of the flu and Covid-19 rise across the country. Qantas was experiencing minor delays flowing on from an incident on Sunday, when a technical glitch delayed flights and led to passengers waiting on the tarmac and in terminals for over an hour. On Monday, a Qantas spokesperson said: “We have resolved an IT issue that caused delays of around one hour for some flights on Sunday afternoon.” A Virgin Australia Group spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to any guest impacted by delayed or cancelled services and we continue to work hard to ensure all guests reach their destination.”<br/>