Australian travellers faced widespread disruption on 20 November as 426 flights were delayed or cancelled across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra and Darwin airports, according to industry tracker FlightAware. Nine services—primarily operated by QantasLink, Jetstar and Virgin Australia—were outright cancelled, while rolling knock-on delays left terminals crowded.
Airlines attributed the chaos to a combination of crew rostering gaps, severe thunderstorms on the east coast and residual congestion from last week’s government-shutdown-related FAA schedule reductions in the United States, which forced several aircraft rotations to be retimed.
![Nation-wide flight delays hit 426 services as summer peak begins]()
For business travellers, the timing is awkward: corporate travel managers had only just restored pre-pandemic volumes for the November–December conference season. Several multinationals reported missed connections to mining hubs in Western Australia, triggering costly overnight stays and project delays.
Airports activated contingency plans, including pop-up customer-service desks and meal vouchers, but union representatives warned that without additional ground-staff hiring, similar episodes could recur through the Christmas peak.
Travel-risk advisers recommend that companies build at least a four-hour buffer for domestic-to-international connections this week and check fare conditions, as many discounted economy tickets still carry change fees despite the operational disruptions.
Airlines attributed the chaos to a combination of crew rostering gaps, severe thunderstorms on the east coast and residual congestion from last week’s government-shutdown-related FAA schedule reductions in the United States, which forced several aircraft rotations to be retimed.
For business travellers, the timing is awkward: corporate travel managers had only just restored pre-pandemic volumes for the November–December conference season. Several multinationals reported missed connections to mining hubs in Western Australia, triggering costly overnight stays and project delays.
Airports activated contingency plans, including pop-up customer-service desks and meal vouchers, but union representatives warned that without additional ground-staff hiring, similar episodes could recur through the Christmas peak.
Travel-risk advisers recommend that companies build at least a four-hour buffer for domestic-to-international connections this week and check fare conditions, as many discounted economy tickets still carry change fees despite the operational disruptions.
