The air safety regulator is investigating claims planes have been landing without fire crews – in breach of aviation laws – amid concerns about Airservices Australia’s handling of staffing shortages and a rise in bullying.
The United Firefighters Union of Australia (UFUA) is in enterprise agreement negotiations with Airservices Australia, the government body that provides air traffic control and airport firefighting services.
UFUA’s aviation branch wrote to the regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa), on Friday, sounding the alarm over six flights since early December which, due to flight delays, landed at Sunshine Coast airport when there were no aviation firefighting services on duty.
The latest incident occurred on Monday evening when a Bonza flight from Melbourne was delayed, landing after the airport’s three fire crews had clocked off.
UFUA alleges Airservices Australia failed to ensure there were extra fire crews available for delayed flights at Sunshine Coast airport, which isn’t in operation 24 hours.
The union also expressed broader concerns about a national shortage of aviation fire crews, who are trained to reach any part of the runway within three minutes and control fires within 90 seconds of arrival. They are also trained to use a special chemical foam which is specific to aircrafts.
UFUA has alleged that since 22 December, 40 separate flights across Bonza, Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin landed when there were an insufficient number of firefighters on duty.
The uptick in activity at Sunshine Coast airport, which has served as a base for new budget carrier Bonza, is thought to be contributing to the issue.
Wes Garrett, UFUA aviation branch secretary, said the issues at Sunshine Coast had been particularly bad because there are no facilities for firefighters “to rest or recline, meaning aviation firefighters working back as late as 2am to cover delayed flights on overtime are heavily fatigued”.
“At night, the shortage of aviation firefighters has become increasingly worse, and a large number of aircraft the size of Boeing 737, which can carry up to 200 passengers, are being forced to land with either no firefighting service at all or with less than the minimum number of firefighters required to protect air travellers should there be a crash or other emergency incident,” Garrett said.
Casa said it is now investigating the concerns. “Casa is looking into these allegations and will take action as needed to ensure the ongoing safety of the travelling public,” a spokesperson said.
Garrett has called on Airservices Australia to introduce a fourth crew for Sunshine Coast airport.
“Safety has been thrown out the window, and Airservices has placed efficiency front and centre,” Garrett said.
An Airservices spokesperson said it “meets its regulatory obligations and employs 21 full-time aviation rescue firefighters at Sunshine Coast airport”.
The spokesperson said that firefighting crews are provided during the airport’s scheduled operations, and that “an airline may choose to operate outside these published operational hours”, just as some airlines fly to smaller airports without any fire crews.
Airservices employs more than 830 firefighters, expects 48 new recruits this year, and “regularly reviews traffic patterns, aircraft size, and frequency of movements and adjusts its service levels and hours of operation accordingly”, the spokesperson said.
On Tuesday the Senate voted down a Coalition push for a committee to examine “the ongoing dysfunction in air space management”.
Staffing has been a longterm issue for Airservices Australia, with many in the aviation industry venting frustrations at a shortage of air-traffic controllers and fire crews since a retirement program in 2021 saw more than 140 controllers and 100 firefighters leave.
Some airlines have blamed the shortage of air-traffic controllers as a factor behind a spike in delays and cancellations.
Despite a recruitment drive, Airservices has struggled to return staffing levels to pre-pandemic operations. In addition to the rigorous testing and training required to become an air-traffic controller or aviation firefighter, industry sources have claimed bullying is an ongoing concern for Airservices staff.
A review into workplace culture, conducted by former discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick’s firm, found 27% of staff in 2023 had experienced bullying in the past 12 months, up from 23% in 2020. The figure for staff who had experience sexual harassment was at 9% in the last year, a decrease from 11% in 2020.
“Bullying is perpetrated ‘top down’ as well as between colleagues, and by employees to managers,” the review found.
Garrett said his membership was concerned at the effect of bullying on staff retention. “The behaviours are well ingrained,” he said.
Civil Air, the union representing air-traffic controllers, has said there’s “clearly a lot still to be done to improve Airservices’ workplaces and the experience for many employees”.
In response to bullying concerns, the Airservices spokesperson referred Guardian Australia to its CEO Jason Harfield’s response to the review from September, which outlined a “zero tolerance” approach to harassment, including linking the issue to the KPIs of leaders, as well as a multimedia initiative to educate staff.
