Australia’s transport safety regulator has opened two new investigations into taxiing conflicts at Sydney Airport involving Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar aircraft. The incidents took place on 16 August and 25 August, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is treating both as safety incidents rather than serious incidents because there was no immediate collision risk.
The first case involved a Virgin Boeing 737 that was instructed to give way to a Qantas Boeing 737 vacating the runway, with the readback not correctly acknowledged by controllers. The second involved a Jetstar Airbus A320 after incomplete traffic information was passed as it moved near a taxiing Bombardier Dash 8.
The bureau is already examining another taxiing conflict at Sydney Airport involving two Qantas aircraft on 18 August, part of a run of closely spaced ground movement events at Australia’s busiest airport. Air traffic coordination, controller procedures and readback discipline are under closer scrutiny, and the ATSB expects preliminary reports in about six to eight weeks.