The $50 “employee incentive” scheme is available to security staff members who work on certain days in the next fortnight.
“In recognition of the difficult circumstances you are facing, from [Tuesday] we will be issuing Woolworths WISH gift cards for each completed shift to all staff involved in passenger screening, CBS [checked bag screening], curbside management and protective services at Sydney Airport,” an email to employees said.
The airport and Qantas have blamed passengers for contributing to the delays, criticising “inexperienced” travellers for taking too long to remove items such as laptops and aerosols at security screening.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said that, before COVID-19, about 10 per cent of passengers required re-screening, but that rate had now increased to 30 per cent.
Qantas and Jetstar are flying more passengers domestically than before the pandemic.
Ayres urged people to factor in significantly more time when arriving at the airport and warned that the delays were unlikely to be fully resolved during the Easter period.
“The issue is that the airport did not ignore demand, they don’t have available workforce,” he said.
Ayres said that even though close contacts would not need to isolate, staff numbers would still be reduced because some would contract COVID-19.
University students Muriël De Kroon, Julian Seesink and Iina Mäkelä were among those queuing at Sydney Airport on Tuesday afternoon for a flight to Brisbane.
Julian Seesink, Muriël De Kroon and Iina Mäkelä queue at Sydney Airport on Tuesday.Credit:Oscar Colman
The exchange students – originally from Leiden University and Nijmegen in the Netherlands and Aalto University in Finland – have been studying at the University of Sydney and decided to use their university break to see more of Australia.
The trio travelled to the airport three hours early in case there were long lines, arriving before the bag check for their flight had opened. They then queued for about 10 minutes and made it through security quicker than expected, leaving time to get some food.
De Kroon said the group was used to European airports, where they have to arrive early because things usually go wrong.
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‘Intensely disappointing’, but NSW Tourism Minister says airport queues will continue
Source: Philippines Alive
