Another close call at Sydney airport, this time cabin crew gets injured

Another near-miss at Australia's busiest airport is being investigated as the transport hub struggles with staff shortages.

A Jetstar flight, JQ402, preparing to depart Sydney Airport (SYD/YSSY) for the Gold Coast (OOL/YBCG) almost collided with a Qatar Airways plane at 7.23 am on Sunday. The Jetstar Airbus 320 with registration VH-VQJ (MSN 2703) pilot was forced to brake suddenly to avoid a collision with the Qatari plane on the tarmac. The Qatar Airways Boeing 777 with registration A7-BEU (MSN 65302) which was not carrying any passengers, was being towed by an aircraft tug and received minor damage.

A passenger was on another flight when she took a photo of the planes almost colliding. "I'm currently sitting on the tarmac at Sydney Airport 25 minutes after we were meant to leave, because two planes nearly collided on the tarmac," she said in a post on X.

A Jetstar spokesperson said their aircraft was following instructions from air traffic controllers when the pilots were forced to brake firmly as another aircraft came into "close proximity".

"We have commenced an investigation into the incident," the spokesperson said. An injured Jetstar crew member received medical attention at the scene. No passengers were injured. The Jetstar flight was cancelled, and passengers were re-booked on other services to the Gold Coast later on Sunday.

Air traffic control was reportedly operating under restricted hours between 6am and 8am on Sunday, reducing the number of flights arriving and departing due to staffing shortages. Sunday's incident followed delays to more than 150 flights passing through Sydney on Saturday as airport operations struggled due to a lack of personnel.

This is the second time there has been a near miss at Sydney airport in a few weeks. The other occurrence happened on the 27th of July 2026, when a Qantas Boeing 737 with registration VH-XZG (MSN 39371) was cleared to cross an active runway while a QantasLink Dash 8 Q400 with registration VH-QOC (MSN 4117) was completing its landing roll on the same runway. Although air traffic controllers identified the conflict before the aircraft entered the runway, the incident has renewed attention on operational safety and staffing challenges affecting Australia’s busiest airport.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has classified the event as a breakdown in coordination and is examining how the conflicting clearances occurred.