The lawyer representing Australian women subjected to invasive body searches at Doha airport say they're worried there is an ongoing risk to women flying Qatar Airways.

In October 2020, women onboard a flight bound for Australia were removed from the plane and forced to undergo examinations without explanation or consent after a newborn baby was found abandoned.

Five of those women have commenced legal proceedings against Qatar Airways, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority and MATAR, a Qatar Airways subsidiary.

"Given the response from the airline to our clients' concerns and their experiences, they certainly strongly remain of the view that risk is continuing," said Michael Bradley, the lawyer representing the women.

The incident is back in the spotlight this week, as a parliamentary committee examines the government's decision to block a Qatar Airways request to increase its flights into major Australian airports.

Transport Minister Catherine King has repeatedly stated the decision was based in the national interest but has so far refused to outline what those reasons are.

Appearing before the committee today, Mr Bradley said his clients were in favour of the decision.

In July, they wrote to Ms King urging her to take the incident into account when making her final call.

Mr Bradley also said his clients were concerned that a similar incident could occur again and there was a risk to women if they flew Qatar Airways.

Mr Bradley said his clients had not received an adequate response or apology for what had occurred.

"There was no meaningful response [from the airline], they refused to engage at all and that has continued," he said.

"Their posture remains defensive and aggressively so."

Previously, Qatar Airways has denied responsibility for the incident.

"We recognise the distress and concern the litigants experienced," a statement issued by the airline stated in February.

"The events in question formed part of a criminal investigation by the Qatari Police which the airline had no control over."

Ms King has previously stated that the October 2020 incident was a factor in her decision to block Qatar's request.

Shortage of air traffic controllers

The committee also heard about a shortage of air traffic controllers, with many retiring in recent years due to a push by Airservices Australia.

A retirement scheme was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, that encouraged older workers to leave, as Airservices Australia tried to manage costs at a time when airlines weren't flying.

About 140 air traffic controllers took up the offer, and 102 air traffic controllers have been recruited since 2020.

Airservices Australia chief customer and external relations officer Peter Curran said training staff was particularly difficult during COVID due to border closures.

"For a range of reasons, our training pipeline didn't come through as anticipated, and the consequence of that is we now have some staffing issues in certain locations," he said.

"We are now working toward an active recruitment campaign."

Airservices Australia expect to have another 72 staff by the end of this year, but some will take two years to complete all the necessary training.

Amid a focus on flight cancellations, Mr Curran said the shortage of air traffic controllers had resulted in some flights being cancelled.

"In Sydney we have seen little over a 100 cancellations in total during the month of August of which Airservices was responsible for approximately four per cent," he said.

Both Qantas and Qatar have confirmed that they will send representatives to appear before the inquiry next week.