A shortage of air traffic controllers forced Airservices Australia to impose flow management restrictions at Sydney Airport on Friday morning, triggering flight cancellations and lengthy delays. The disruption highlights mounting concerns over staffing levels within Australia's air traffic control system, coming just months after a series of near-miss incidents on the airport's runways prompted a formal safety investigation.

The restrictions, blamed on "roster constraints", were lifted at 8.15am once conditions eased, though minor delays persisted through the morning. Six flights were cancelled and some Qantas services were delayed by more than an hour. The episode coincided with Airservices Australia's chief executive Rob Sharp facing a Senate committee examining aviation safety, following a Reuters report that controllers on duty during a July near-collision between two Qantas aircraft had been flagged as at high risk of fatigue — one of six such close calls at Sydney Airport within a month, now under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.