Photo: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian
Flying over the harbor to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, the dazzling view of the blue ocean lapping at the heart of the city makes the claustrophobia of a window seat bearable.
For the 100,000 or so travelers who have to endure a hectic combination of snaking queues, overpriced cafes, overweight bags and violated personal space every day before entering or leaving the city, the fleeting view of glittering Sydney stands out.
But hidden from travellers, Australia's busiest airport lies beneath a 'mini-city', where more than 30,000 people work every day. Some operate complex networks of baggage conveyor belts, others transport cargo to and from planes or pump hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel into jumbos in minutes.
Then there are those who are committed to securing air traffic. In addition to air marshals and border security officials, there are intelligence workers investigating potentially corrupt airline personnel, and agents with dogs trained to sniff out hard drives, memory cards and other smuggled contraband.
While travelers will see officers with tasers and guns, most will be unaware of the bird watchers with shotguns, or the aircraft watchers in the air traffic control tower whose sole responsibility is to count aircraft movements with a pen and clipboard.
Then there are those who put on plastic gloves before searching through a potentially dangerous bag of lost sex toys.
Eye on the sky
For a facility that relies on more than 800 companies and organizations coordinating with military precision, having Greg Hay as the airport's general manager of operations makes sense since he previously served in the Air Force.
Much of Hay's morning is spent studying weather reports, and not just for Sydney.
"The weather is an important player here," says Hay. "A typhoon in the Hong Kong region could cause a lot of planning unrest here."
On windy days, air traffic controllers must change the direction in which the airport's two runways operate.
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Bad weather could wreak havoc at Sydney Airport due to the strict curfew that halts commercial passenger traffic between 11pm and 6am to give local residents respite from loud noise.
The airport, built 104 years ago just 8km from the CBD, also has a limited number of slots, meaning no more than 80 take-offs or landings per hour, counted in 15-minute blocks.
If weather conditions at distant airports delay incoming flights or local storms hold up outbound planes, there is little room in the schedule.
"It just takes a few things to untangle some of those complicated details," says Hay.
The curfew and hourly movement limit are strictly monitored. Airlines that violate the curfew without permission will be fined $313,000, and to ensure the hourly limit is respected, there are monitors sitting in the air traffic control tower marking movements with pens and clipboards.
The airport's outgoing CEO, Geoff Culbert, called for the government to modernize its laws and slots system. The airport does not have the authority to allocate slots to airlines.
He says fear of breaking the law means the airport routinely restricts movements even below the legal limit of 80 per hour.
Culbert is also among aviation figures who have accused Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia of "slot hoarding" by scheduling more services than they plan to run to block competitors and then strategically canceling the extra flights.
Related: The CEO of Sydney Airport has accused Qantas of strategically canceling flights to block competition
The cancellation rate from Sydney is routinely the highest in the country, and critics point out that this is evidence of slot abuse, although major airlines have repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
The federal government has yet to respond to a review recommending reforms to the laws. In the meantime, Hay must ensure the facility continues to operate smoothly, even during times of major disruption. He says on days with particularly bad weather it can feel like a race to get all the flights in and out before the curfew.
Organized chaos
An estimated 2.6 million passengers passed through the airport's terminals in the period from December 14 last year to January 3, a sign that the recovery from the pandemic is complete.
"It's a very busy week for us the week before Christmas," says Hay. "The check-in halls are busy, we have passengers everywhere."
In December, 3 million pieces of luggage traveled through a complex system in the basements of terminals that moves suitcases via conveyor belts at check-in counters through security checkpoints to the appropriate planes.
"They go through a security scan and then go to a big sorter that determines which flight, kind of like the end of Toy Story 2, where there's a lot of bags going around, you know, in almost an underground roller coaster set -up here," Hay says.
Bags are assigned to containers and taken to aircraft. An unofficial memorial wall of bag tags loosened by this process represents a fraction of the pieces that end up being misused or lost.
Hays says most don't realize how many staff are needed (more than 30,000 per day) to keep the airport running. This includes ground handlers, cleaners, mechanics and caterers.
"People often describe the airport as a mini-city," he says.
One of Hay's senior colleagues, Bjorn Nielsen, the airside operating licensing and aviation safety manager, is handling less visible tasks.
Keeping birds out of airplanes is a major safety issue. US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of birds minutes after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport in 2009, forcing it to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River.
Related: Eyes on the sky: air traffic controllers monitor 11% of the world's airspace
Wildlife management teams monitor the grass areas along the runways. They use sirens, loud noises, pyrotechnics, a gas cannon and even loudspeakers that mimic the distress calls of different species to scare birds away. If all that fails, Nielsen says teams can use firearms to keep birds away from aircraft engines.
"Everyone thinks the best way is to just go out there with a shotgun or a pistol... it's the last resort. We will do that, but there are certainly better ways," he says.
Lost property
In 2022, more than 4,000 lost items were returned to their owners, while around 3,000 unclaimed items were auctioned, something the airport does every year to raise money for charity.
Most of the lost items it contains are mundane: stray toothbrushes and toiletries left in bathrooms, duty-free alcohol, laptops and jewelry. But special Beatles records, circular saw, hedge trimmer and conservatory were among the more unusual items auctioned last year.
Katrina Lee takes charge of lost property in her role as airport service center manager.
"There are other colorful items we see...personal pleasure items," Lee says. 'We had a bag full of stuff like that, and the lady who called about it... she had no problem ringing the doorbell.
"[When] they are what floats your boat, you want them back."
Lee jokes that when such discoveries occur, staff are careful to put on protective gear: "They open the door and decide if this is a glove bag or not."
Crime detection
While the TV show Border Security may put a spotlight on Border Patrol agents, the Australian Federal Police have an important role in overseeing airport law enforcement.
The AFP's most visible arm at the airport is its dog team that can detect drugs and explosives. However, their evolution in detecting cash and digital contraband has put enforcement at the forefront against organized crime.
"They are very exciting, they can find anything from a phone to a micro SIM, which is quite small," said Senator Const Jade Wall. She says cryptocurrency, child abuse material, money laundering and terrorist planning data are the biggest concerns for smuggled hard drives and data cards, which the trained dogs can detect even deep within luggage.
However, most threats are due to passenger behavior.
The AFP's airport headquarters even has a mock aircraft cabin where officers can practice detaining unruly passengers in their seats. It is also equipped with a business class section.
"I can tell you some of them are from business class, for sure," said Det Supt Morgen Blunden, the AFP airport police commander.
"Alcohol, especially if it is not the main or only cause, makes a situation that could otherwise be resolved without incident much worse."
If travelers resist arrest, tasers can be deployed. While most will be familiar with tasers used from a distance to fire prongs that send an electrical current through the central nervous system, the Guardian understands that the devices can also be wedged into muscles at shorter distances.
While officers at the airport carry a standard Glock pistol, some are trained to use larger rifles, such as the Daniels Defense MK 18. Officers must continually train and retrain to use them.
Deterrence against terrorist activities is a major reason for the highly visible short-barreled rifles.
"The more we can market the capabilities that we have, hopefully the message gets out that 'I won't do anything at the airport,'" Blunden said.
There are also numerous bureau staff at the airport, including intelligence personnel charged with identifying and preventing so-called "trusted insiders": airline employees who use their access to aid organized crime.
The police remain present even during curfew periods. "It's not going to be completely shut down," Blunden said. "It's a huge job."
