Melbourne Airport Braces For Christmas Chaos

On Thursday, Melbourne Airport is expecting 100,000 passengers to walk through terminals of both domestic and international.

Passengers can expect delays when claiming baggage, a spokeswoman for the airport said staffing issues are causing delays.

"With fewer staff that just creates a challenge of unloading the planes and getting it to passengers quickly," she said.

"But we've been working with all of the airlines and their ground handling companies and they've been working to build back up their staffing."

Six million people are expected to come through the airport across December and January, tallying a 150% increase on the previous summer holiday.

Melbourne Airport chief executive Lorie Argus said the airport is “well equipped to handle” the Christmas rush but urged passengers to plan and leave plenty of time before their flight.

While Sydney Airport is expecting 2.2 million passengers during the peak holiday rush of December 12 until New Years Day, with 60 additional staff on deck to ease the pressure.

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said they're bunkering down for the peak of the holiday rush.

"Some parts of the operation are still fragile, and we estimate we are around 2000 employees short of where we need to be, but are working hard to make sure most passengers will have a typical pre-COVID Christmas experience," Mr Culbert said.

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