EK413 departed after curfew?

[David C]

It's now 2355hrs and the EK 413 is just climbing through 8000ft on departure out of SYD and crossing the coast nr Stanwell Park heading West . Did it depart after curfew this evening ?...

Dave C

[Shayne G]

Aircraft departed at 11:46pm, after curfew.

It's worth noting that as long as aircraft has received taxi clearance before 11pm the aircraft can depart 16R full length. So despite an unusually late departure this is ok.

[David C]

Thanks for that Shayne..

Dave C

[Sarah C]

THE Emirates airline could face fines of more than $1 million for multiple breaches of the Sydney Airport curfew after it defied repeated warnings by air traffic control not to fly after 11pm.

The federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport is investigating three breaches by Emirates, and has strong hopes of a successful prosecution for two of the incidents.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/curfew-breaches-risk-1m-fine-20120204-1qyqu.html#ixzz1lScOlCZx

[Laurent Sanhard]

The curfew hours were made in the days when aircraft were a lot noisier than todays new aircraft , I believe the EK413 late departure in December was due to fuel supply probs , due to a storm at the airport, I think that airports need to move with the times and give extra allowance to aircraft which are not so noisy , I was riding at Brighton-Le Sands yesterday and hardly heard a thing when QF31 took off over the water 16R ?
I am sure that if EK413 took off from the same runway - using the full length , the noise would be minimal , common sense should always prevail !

[Sarah C]

The bigger issue should be the curfew itself.......

[Nigel C]

...common sense should always prevail !

For anything to change, politicians need to be involved.

Enough said!:rolleyes:

[Bernie P]

The curfew hours were made in the days when aircraft were a lot noisier than todays new aircraft , I believe the EK413 late departure in December was due to fuel supply probs , due to a storm at the airport, I think that airports need to move with the times and give extra allowance to aircraft which are not so noisy , I was riding at Brighton-Le Sands yesterday and hardly heard a thing when QF31 took off over the water 16R ?
I am sure that if EK413 took off from the same runway - using the full length , the noise would be minimal , common sense should always prevail !

Not disagreeing with you Laurent, but QF31 departing at, what 5-6pm, would be far quieter with ambiant traffice noise etc than EK413 at 11.46pm with nearly no traffic etc at Brighton-Le Sands...

But totally agreed, the curfew itself needs a second (or is it third, fourth...) looking at to drag it into the current time! :D

[Laurent Sanhard]

agree with you Bernie , but the A380 is still a much quieter aircraft than the DC 10 days etc , day or night , interesting article from flight global on the introduction of the A380 with Singapore Airlines into Heathrow in accordance with noise abaitment in the area http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-details-a380s-new-more-efficient-heathrow-departure-procedures-339067/

[Owen H]

As much as I dislike the curfew I hope the prosecutions do stand up. We have now seen multiple examples of where international airlines believe they are above Australian law and just depart, knowing they are willing to pay the fine.

The fine is not there as a penalty payment, it is there as a deterrent. If it is not prosecuted sufficiently, including being a very large penalty, then airlines will keep breaking it. Australian airlines, however, knowing the publicity backlash will not be able to risk it. Another example where Australian airlines will be penalised by the Australian government.

The curfew should be modified, but while it is in place, it needs to be applied fully.

[Sarah C]

$500,000 is a drop in the ocean for an airline like Emirates - they would probably prefer to pay it vs the bill of departing the next day with accomodation, missed connections and the aircraft being late to its next sector.

[Jeff N]

I think the so called 'gateway to Australia' needs to get with it. With all the yap about it being a 24 hour global city and all the associated '****-speak', here we have it's airport closed for virtually 30 per cent of every day!

As has been mentioned, current generation aircraft are a hell of a lot quiter than 707s, DC10s and others from yesteryear.

Short of that, I believe they should partially relax the curfew so that there were still no scheduled movements, but still allowing say 60 minutes to cater for the unexpected occasional movements brought on by weather and other unforeseens etc.

[Mark T]

There are many other cities around the world that have gateways with a curfew with London Heathrow being a good example of this. LHR does allow dispensations however. I know that I have landed there at 2am in the past and a lot of these dispensations would be due to weather, especially in examples like the recent snow in London. I guess there just needs to be some common sense used.

[Bernie P]

In the article re QF aborts TWO take offs in LHR, it eventually left at 2am! I thought reading it, this was a brave move by QF, and wondered IF there would be any fine implications involved similar to this EK event... Does anyone know IF LHR has a penalty for these type of events, notwithstanding dispensations of course...

A second attempt to take off was abandoned as the plane taxied along the runway, a Qantas spokeswoman said. The flight eventually left at 2am.
Source: SMH.com.au (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-jumbo-aborts-takeoff-20120212-1szsx.html#ixzz1mEOfuPSV)

[Nils Kenny]

You have to hand it to the Government's over the year's the Sydney Airport Act was last amendend in 2006 for the Act past in 1995, and it still has part's that state until Badgery's Creek is in operation. The Secretary can give the Ok for upto 14 Aircraft per week to take-off and land during 11pm - Midnight. Airlines should really push the Government on this. the Act can be found here
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2006C00603/Html/Text#param7
Best of luck reading it.