Australia probes near-miss collision of 2 planes on tarmac at Sydney airport

Sydney Airport experienced a near-miss collision between a Jetstar A320 and a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 on Sunday, prompting an investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The Jetstar plane, taxiing for takeoff to Queensland's Gold Coast, came into close proximity with the Qatar Airways plane, which was being towed by an aircraft tug.

Both aircraft were forced to stop abruptly, with a cabin crew member on the Jetstar plane sustaining an injury. The connection between the Qatar Airways plane's nose gear and the tug was also damaged. Jetstar, a budget airline and the national carrier Qantas' budget subsidiary, stated that their pilots were following air traffic control instructions when the incident occurred.

Airservices Australia, responsible for managing air traffic at Sydney Airport, implemented departure spacing to manage projected airborne and departure demands following the incident. The agency declined to comment on the cause of the near-miss, as it was under review. The near-miss occurred just a day after the airport faced widespread delays due to similar spacing measures being enacted by Airservices Australia due to "roster constraints" with air traffic controllers.