Staff shortages are causing travel havoc ahead of the Easter weekend, with massive lines forming at airports and vacationers being advised to arrive three hours early.
Around Sydney Airport, enormous lineups formed in the terminals and stretched out the door at 6 a.m. on Friday, forcing thousands of travelers to wait hours to check-in.
Approximately 80,000 passengers are projected to pass through the airport throughout the day, with another 95,000 predicted to pass via Melbourne Airport, resulting in similar scenes of congestion in the early morning.
Airline workers are preparing for their busiest day since the start of the Covid outbreak, and they’ve been trying to cope with the large flood of passengers as the business is crippled by staff shortages.
Next Thursday, Sydney Airport will host a job fair with the hopes of filling 5,000 vacancies in just three weeks, avoiding even more mayhem during the approaching school holidays.
As airport workers struggle to cope with the large influx, passengers are advised to come at least two hours before their departure time.
Senator David Shoebridge, a member of the Greens, was among those waiting to board an aircraft from Sydney to Melbourne.
On Twitter, he remarked, ‘Another vacation and another disaster at Sydney’s privatized airport.’
‘There was a long line for bag drop, followed by another one for security.’ Because they sold tickets, they knew how many people would show up.’
The sights of turmoil were described as’stressful’ by one traveller heading to Melbourne.
‘Allow some extra time if you’re traveling to the Sydney airport this morning,’ another Twitter user remarked.
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‘Bag drops are melting down, and lineups are forming to join queues.’ I’m glad I arrived three hours early, but I may not be able to make it.’
Next Thursday, Sydney Airport will host a large job fair as it ‘urgently’ employs personnel to deal with the rush of people wanting to flee the Covid pandemic’s two-year border closures.
Roles in security, luggage handling, government organizations, airlines, hospitality, and retail will be advertised.
At Sydney Airport, roughly 800 firms operate, and masks are required inside the terminals.
The event will take place in the T1 International Terminal between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
‘At the employment fair, you will have the opportunity to speak with a variety of firms at the airport.’ The airport stated that “about 40 firms would be joining us on the day.”
Thousands of travelers have complained about long lines to board flights and even longer lines to collect their passports, prompting the urgent request for workers.
Passengers at Sydney Airport were photographed standing in lines that stretched up to 300 meters long and snaked around the security checkpoints at the end of April.
Travelers planning a trip for the start of the school holidays faced similar delays earlier that month, with lines running up to a kilometer long.
Passengers said they had missed their flights, and several alleged that the long wait at the terminals had been exacerbated by queue jumpers who rushed to the front of the lines.
School holidays, a scarcity of security officers, and, most surprisingly, forgetful passengers who were not in the habit of removing goods from their luggage for scanning were all cited by airport officials.
Those planning to travel overseas have recently been hampered by lengthy waits in obtaining or renewing their passports.
Many people are worried that they may have to postpone or cancel their vacations because they have been waiting three months for their passports.
Ed Andronicus, a Sydney university student, has been waiting nine weeks for his new passport, which he will require for his trip to Bali next month.
On Tuesday, a technical issue at the city’s passport office made things much more difficult, with some locals waiting all day just to be turned away.
‘I’ve been waiting for almost nine hours in the Sydney passport office today. There is no communication about what is going on, and individuals who have been waiting all day for flights tomorrow are being turned away because the printers have been switched off (they were meant to close at 4pm). ‘Appalling,’ grumbled one woman.
Holidaymakers were instructed to allow six weeks for their new passports by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), but many say they have had to wait longer.
The passport office in Sydney generally receives 7,000 to 9,000 applications per week, but demand has risen to 12,000 in recent months.
It was a similar story in Melbourne, where desperate Australians – including women with children – had waited in the cold for three hours.
Since then, a DFAT spokesman has apologized for the delays and stated that wait times should normalize ‘in the next weeks.’