Two Qantas planes’ near-miss on Sydney Airport runway sparks fourth safety investigation

Two Qantas aircraft came close to colliding on a taxiway at Sydney Airport this week, prompting the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to launch its fourth investigation into near-miss incidents at the airport in under a month. The episode has raised fresh questions about ground safety procedures at Australia's busiest airport, even though both aircraft were following air traffic control instructions at the time.

According to the ATSB, a Qantas Airbus A321 taxiing towards runway 34 Left for a Gold Coast flight and a Qantas Boeing 737 taxiing towards the domestic terminal after landing from Melbourne came into conflict at an intersection of taxiways Lima and Charlie on Tuesday; the Airbus crew spotted the Boeing approaching and stopped to let it pass. Qantas and Airservices Australia both confirmed the incident is under review, noting it follows three other near-misses in recent weeks, including a Qantas jet entering a runway ahead of a departing Virgin Australia flight on 10 August, a Jetstar aircraft narrowly avoiding a towed Qatar Airways plane the same day, and a QantasLink and Qantas aircraft near-miss on 27 July.