What happened
During a flight diversion involving a Qantas aircraft, a sequence of administrative errors led to the issuance of an inaccurate loadsheet. The process began when a customer journey lead entered an incorrect aircraft configuration code while creating an additional stop for the Canberra to Sydney sector. This error, likely driven by high workload and time pressure, triggered an automatic reduction in the passenger count within the system. While the initial data entry error was corrected, the subsequent automatic changes to the passenger composition went unnoticed.
As a result, several passengers who were physically on board the aircraft were either listed as standby or offloaded in the system. The airport duty manager at Canberra closed the flight using this erroneous data, failing to identify the discrepancy because the unusual presence of standby passengers on a diversion flight did not align with their expectations. Although the duty manager became aware of the standby passengers via a customer service agent, they did not communicate this discrepancy to load control, assuming the issue was being handled elsewhere.
Simultaneously, the load controller expressed concerns regarding the validity of the flight information. However, after being unable to resolve the anomalies, the load control system manager instructed the controller to proceed with the information available in the system. Consequently, an erroneous loadsheet was issued to the flight crew. The error was discovered after the loadsheet had been provided but before departure; however, the crew could not be notified because they had deselected the ground communication frequency and were not reachable via radio.