Qantas IT problems cause Sydney airport "chaos"

Poor staff training on Qantas' new Altea Departure Control-Flight Management system led to delays on flights departing from Sydney, Australia. Given the airline's poor IT record, no one should be surprised.

Australian IT has the details:

[A] busy Monday morning threw the Sydney terminal into chaos.

Qantas said the system was introduced without incident on Saturday and blamed Monday's delays on staff unfamiliar with using the new system in a live environment.

"The system upgrade happened on Saturday so people are coming to work today and have not used it before," a Qantas spokesperson said.

Qantas said it had been planning the Altea Departure Control-Flight Management rollout since selecting the system in July 2007, but it now appears airline staff were not sufficiently trained to deal with a busy Monday morning.

"Monday is busier than usual and passenger numbers increase due to business travel. We have put a lot of trials and practices in with staff, but it is the first time some staff are using it in a live environment," the Qantas spokesperson said.

The Qantas spokesperson said the new system integrated two previously separate computer interfaces that were used to manage flights and reservations.

Oops. I guess somebody forgot to really train those pesky users before rolling out the new system.

This isn't the first Qantas IT failure and it won't be the last. From a blog post last February:

I believe Qantas is poised for ongoing IT failure: complex technical infrastructure, outdated legacy systems, leadership that doesn’t understand basic IT issues, union problems, and an historical pattern of failure combine to paint an uncertain future.

Folks, keep an eye on Qantas for more IT screwups.

[Image via eHow]