SYD curfew must be lifted with QF strike

[Andrew Johnson]

With SYD being QF Central, there's no way VA using it's 777's for domestic services will make up for lack of QF services.

The curfew in SYD could be lifted + foreign airlines could again be required to fly domestic routes like in pilots dispute of late 80's, when we saw JAT DC10, Air Maritime 737, RAAF & other selling domestic airfares on behalf of existing domestic carriers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-clients-in-virgin-safety-net/story-e6frg95x-1226171159273

[Greg McDonald]

And little green pigs fly south for winter too.....

[Kent Broadhead]

Temporary emergency measures will be needed if it really goes pear shaped. I expect that other capacity boosts will be tried before the curfew is temporarily lifted (if necessary)

[Rowan McKeever]

I'm sure, given J-Borg's comments earlier in the week (along the lines that now's a great time to be Virgin Australia), that Virgin are unlikely to miss a beat in making up for lost capacity.

[Shayne G]

The curfew in SYD could be lifted

Will never happen even in a situation like this. It has to be much more significant to even consider making exemptions for big jet flights during curfew.

[Andrew Johnson]

am suggesting a complete scrapping of curfew if QF closes up shop for any period. No way DJ can make up for QF closing down, even with VA 777's operating domestically, unless the public are willing to pay much higher fares.

Gee if DJ has to compete only with JQ (might be affected by QF strike) & TT, then they won't have to sell many cheap fares.

Plus, what on earth was the Sydney Noise tax we paid for years for the privilege of landing/taking off at SYD. Didn't it go to insulating homes around the airport from aircraft noise.

Crazy that busiest airport in Australia is closed for 7 hours everyday, buy really more hours as no airline wants to get close to 2300 on outbound flights, if a delay for any reason.

[Kent Broadhead]

Plus, what on earth was the Sydney Noise tax we paid for years for the privilege of landing/taking off at SYD. Didn't it go to insulating homes around the airport from aircraft noise. True, it did. Also resulted in half of Sydenham being demolished.

Then Howard changed the flight paths, affecting a new and different group of people as well. My pretty much unaffected suburb (which I chose to get away from Stanmore, where the houses opposite were in the insulation boundary) became moderately affected.

[Rowan McKeever]

The SYD curfew certainly won't be lifted under this government and unlikely under any other. It just won't happen.

As I said before, J-Borg isn't going to miss a beat in filling any void left by QF... I'm sure noone thought QF/DJ could make up for AN before it happened. The global market might be very different now to 10 years ago, but I'm sure there're more contingencies up various sleeves than we will come up with on here.

[Shayne G]

There is nothing wrong with suggesting! :D but I do not see the curfew being lifted especially scrapped.

But we can be all optimistic..
1. Lets hope Qantas wetlease every BAE 146 aircraft in the world, convert all freighter ones back to PAX versions. Use these aircraft throughout the night to dodge curfew rules and clear the backlog.
2. At domestic terminal around 10pm at night, use every single gate for Qantas and have every flight get taxi clearance at 10:59pm or earlier that way they can depart after curfew.

.....nah, just kidding :D

[Nigel C]

Curfew is when airfield capital works and repairs get done. Last night Dom 1 (essential repairs), Dom 2 (some essential repairs and capital works) and Dom 3 (capital works) were closed to facilitate such works. It was one night when the main runway actually remained in its full length configuration, which is quite unusual these days for a weeknight.

Do you suggest the airport just puts all these (especially the essential works) on the back-burner?

[PeterR]

How do airports without a curfew do their maintenace and capital works?

Anyway - when the curfew was imposed I am sure the maintenance of runways etc was the last thing on the politician's mind.

[Brendon I.]

Dont 24hr airports have maintenance requirements too? How do they cope?

[Nigel C]

Non-curfew airports probably have full use of all their other runways too, unlike Sydney which is restriced to the main north-south unless medical or emergency priority take over.

You've got to remember, Sydney's quite restricted in the available taxi routes as it is, especially in areas like the Qantas Jet Base and T3. A pavement failure along here, as happened this time yesterday, can potentially cause all sorts of grief especially when 9 of the 14 available bays are effectively taken out of service. At least in T2 there's the option of only having 1 apron closed if push came to shove.

But to take the capital works issue further, contracts would be in place for the work that needs to be done and the time frame in which it's supposed to be done and contractors would have geared their workforce up to meet the requirements. If it's Qantas who are having the industrial disputes, and the Federal Government declare the curfew period over until things get sorted, then who pays the compensation for the variation in contract to the contractors performing the capital works? I somehow don't think the airport will wear this cost!

[Jacob P]

Hey Guys for those of you wondering about the specifics of flights departing before curfew this link might be useful. It's a PDF document listing slot coordination guidelines for all Australian airports but the Sydney section is the one important one! Good reading.

This link should work

http://www.coordaus.com.au/Coordaus/W10guidelines_100504.pdf

[Andrew Johnson]

>>>
Curfew is when airfield capital works and repairs get done. Last night Dom 1 (essential repairs), Dom 2 (some essential repairs and capital works) and Dom 3 (capital works) were closed to facilitate such works. It was one night when the main runway actually remained in its full length configuration, which is quite unusual these days for a weeknight.

Do you suggest the airport just puts all these (especially the essential works) on the back-burner?
>>>

Gee the 2 most important airports in OZ BNE & MEL seem to manage.

Oh forgot NSW is "run" by hopeless public servants. Glad I don't live in SYD.

[Rowan McKeever]

Actually, the NSW Government is not directly involved in any aspect of the management of Sydney Airport. Nor, for that matter, are QLD or VIC directly involved in the management of BNE or MEL.

[Zac M]

Andrew, you really have no idea do you?

[Nigel C]

>>>
Curfew is when airfield capital works and repairs get done. Last night Dom 1 (essential repairs), Dom 2 (some essential repairs and capital works) and Dom 3 (capital works) were closed to facilitate such works. It was one night when the main runway actually remained in its full length configuration, which is quite unusual these days for a weeknight.

Do you suggest the airport just puts all these (especially the essential works) on the back-burner?
>>>

Gee the 2 most important airports in OZ BNE & MEL seem to manage.

Oh forgot NSW is "run" by hopeless public servants. Glad I don't live in SYD.
Melbourne also managed to get its main runway closed 24/7 for around 6 weeks straight to facilitate A380 upgrade and resurfacing works. Sydney doesn't have that luxury and in fact it can't be closed full length for even one night anymore (there used to be provision for 1 Saturday night per month for a full length closure).

Melbourne and Brisbane also don't have the Federal Transport Minister living on their doorstep either. And nor are those airports as much a political hot potato as Sydney is.

[Brad E]

Is there any reason that 16L/34R isn't used during curfew? I regularly see reduced LDA and displaced threshold on 16R/34L and wonder why the parl rwy isnt used. I can't imagine it would have any different effect on residents..?

I guess this ties in with the "if there was no curfew when would capital works get done" argument.

[Andrew Johnson]

Bae146's can use SYD during curfew. Aren't many new aircraft types as quiet as Bae146's ?

If so, it may be a way for SYD to handle extra demand before they get another airport.

[Nigel C]

I believe it's legislated that 16L/34R can't be used unless it a medical or emergency priority flight during curfew.

Andrew, you'll probably find the only people who are saying Sydney is at or near capacity now are the people opposed to the airport, or those with political mileage to gain from it. Sure, there are times when the airport hits a peak period, but there's also times (possibly like about now as I'm writing this reply) when there's plenty of spare bays and runway use is well below 'average'.

We could sit here and argue the point all day about whether there should or shouldn't be a curfew. The fact is it won't be changing anytime soon, strike or no strike.

[Hugh Jarse]

The Dash 8-1/2/300's are approved to land on 34L with up to 20kt tailwind during curfew.

[Rob R]

A bigger issue is the 80 movements per hour at the moment is running at 74 to 76 as ATC come close to exceeding the 80 cap recently and the government has now put a person in the tower to count the movements. The airport is capable of doing 100+ per hour.