Melburnian1
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
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JQ508 has been altered to depart MEL at 0947 instead of its timetabled 0945 this morning (Friday 4 December 2015) for SYD.
JQ502 has been altered to depart five minutes early at 0725 on the same route, while JQ560 from MEL to BNE has been changed to be an 0728 hours departure in lieu of 0730, and JQ506 altered from 0915 to 0914 in proposed departure from MEL for SYD.
TT224 from MEL to SYD has been altered to depart at 1012 instead of 1010.
I suspect that these changed departure times have nothing to do with the airlines, but have been imposed upon them by Airservices Australia's 'Harmony' flight management system with its ground delay system that is explained here:
Air Traffic Flow Management | Airservices
Changes like this would be harder for surface transport such as trains that typically passengers can board up until 10 seconds before departure due to no 'advance checkin times', but with flights the vast majority around the world have minimum checkin and 'be at the boarding gate by' times so it is practical for Airservices, Air Traffic Control or similar to make changes like this.
UPDATE: as at 0730, the supposedly '0725 hours' departing JQ502 from MEL to SYD is still on 'final call.'
It would be interesting to see how often the changed times were complied with 'to the minute.' This may not be often: unexpected delays such as when I was at MEL recently and noted a BNE-bound JQ flight delayed for a further 15 minutes due to one of the two passengers who had not boarded when called having checked in luggage that had to be searched for and removed from the hold must contribute to unpredictability in departure times from major airports.
It is a good idea to try to optimise the flow of flights into and out of our major airports (particularly with SYD having both the hourly restriction of a capped 80 movements and the at times incompatible further restriction of a capped 20 movements within each quarter hour period) but sometimes this aim may be more honoured 'in the breach.'
Our pilot contributors on AFF may be kind enough to explain whether this 'Harmony' is separate from, or connected to, the other initiative to try to reduce fuel consumption by (if I recall) improved management of holding patterns in the air.
JQ502 has been altered to depart five minutes early at 0725 on the same route, while JQ560 from MEL to BNE has been changed to be an 0728 hours departure in lieu of 0730, and JQ506 altered from 0915 to 0914 in proposed departure from MEL for SYD.
TT224 from MEL to SYD has been altered to depart at 1012 instead of 1010.
I suspect that these changed departure times have nothing to do with the airlines, but have been imposed upon them by Airservices Australia's 'Harmony' flight management system with its ground delay system that is explained here:
Air Traffic Flow Management | Airservices
Changes like this would be harder for surface transport such as trains that typically passengers can board up until 10 seconds before departure due to no 'advance checkin times', but with flights the vast majority around the world have minimum checkin and 'be at the boarding gate by' times so it is practical for Airservices, Air Traffic Control or similar to make changes like this.
UPDATE: as at 0730, the supposedly '0725 hours' departing JQ502 from MEL to SYD is still on 'final call.'
It would be interesting to see how often the changed times were complied with 'to the minute.' This may not be often: unexpected delays such as when I was at MEL recently and noted a BNE-bound JQ flight delayed for a further 15 minutes due to one of the two passengers who had not boarded when called having checked in luggage that had to be searched for and removed from the hold must contribute to unpredictability in departure times from major airports.
It is a good idea to try to optimise the flow of flights into and out of our major airports (particularly with SYD having both the hourly restriction of a capped 80 movements and the at times incompatible further restriction of a capped 20 movements within each quarter hour period) but sometimes this aim may be more honoured 'in the breach.'
Our pilot contributors on AFF may be kind enough to explain whether this 'Harmony' is separate from, or connected to, the other initiative to try to reduce fuel consumption by (if I recall) improved management of holding patterns in the air.
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