TENSIONS between air traffic controllers and the federal Government have deepened following allegations a Virgin Blue flight with 120 passengers on board came within 70m of colliding with a light aircraft near Launceston.

It is claimed that at about 1.30pm on Wednesday the Boeing 737 on descent to Launceston was forced to climb more than 300m to avoid a four-seater single-engine Tobago flying from Hobart after a proximity alert sounded in the cockpit.

Virgin Blue, Airservices Australia and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating the incident, but an airline spokeswoman, Amanda Bolger, said flight DJ 964 from Sydney landed “as per normal”.

“We firmly believe that Australia has some of the safest skies in the world and we are confident our pilots reacted professionally as per our standard operating procedures,” she said.

It follows an almost identical incident near Melbourne earlier this month and comes in the middle of open conflict between the Australian Air Traffic Control Association and Transport Minister John Anderson over a new air traffic control plan known as the National Airspace System.

The union claims a spate of incidents, including Wednesday’s, can be linked to new rules that allow private aircraft to operate in commercial air traffic space.

It warned yesterday that Australia could expect more close calls between commercial and light aircraft, saying the new rules were “a joke”.

The association issued a statement last Friday expressing concern over air safety in Tasmania, saying there was a great deal of confusion over the new rules.

“As we have been warning for months, Australia’s skies are becoming a hit-or-miss affair,” association president Ted Lang said.

“Commercial aircraft are taking evasive action. Collision alarms are sounding. Passengers are seeing other aircraft close by.”

The union has urged airline passengers to fly only at night, when amateur and private pilots cannot operate.

A spokesman for Mr Anderson said the union’s campaign was political “because they believe it will be of benefit to the Labor Party”.

He said the union had claimed near misses between aircraft four times in the past month, at Canberra, Tamworth, Melbourne and now Launceston, “and with all previous incidents they have been proven 100 per cent wrong in everything they have said”.

“The new system has been run very well so far,” the spokesman said. “It is working as it’s meant to work.”