Melburnian1
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
- 25,607
This may be of interest:
https://infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/airport/planning/apr_slots.aspx
The brief explanation does not mention how in addition to the 80 movement cap per hour (0600 - 2300 hours daily), there is also a further restriction of (if I recall) 20 movements per quarter hour.
At busy times this can lead to further delay because a previous 15 minute period may have had (say) only 16 movements but the next quarter hour cannot have 24 to 'compensate': that is apparently not allowed. In this situation, unpunctuality may on occasion compound because of these severe movement restrictions. This latter restriction would not seem optimal to many passengers, but the answer as to why it is there may come from 'noise politics' from local residents who in the past made their objections about unlimited numbers of planes landing and taking off vociferously known to Federal Members of Parliament.
I assume that a lot of this slot management is good, instantly available record keeping so presumably this is a task for software companies with logistics or aviation experience, or both. This is all 'behind the scenes' yet given that the number of permitted aircraft movements is finite, it is an essential part of keeping aircraft and passengers 'on the move.'
The closest surface travel equivalent is a dense railway timetable, sometimes with closer headways than achievable in aviation. Nonetheless the SYD airport operations must be challenging at times as we see when the weather is nasty as was the case a day and a half ago.
Provincial airlines such as Regional Express have long been able to resist a forced move to Bankstown airport. It will be interesting to see if this slot manager has a view on that, but the matter is also 'political' in nature with The Nationals (a vital part of the Federal Coalition Government) steadfastly opposed to any move of such airlines away from Sydney Airport, even if those who suggest it regard having very small aircraft taking up 'valuable slots' as sub-optimal.
The slot manager's jurisdiction will presumably not extend to any consideration as to whether the SYD airport curfew should be scrapped, reduced in duration or otherwise modified.
I am not a Sydney (or NSW) resident but my perception is that the 'noise debate' has become less 'noisy' in the last two or three years as passenger aircraft continue to (on average) become quieter. Is my hypothesis way off beam or naive? What is the likely situation in the run up to the 2016 Federal election - will this again be an issue or is it 'settled'?
https://infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/airport/planning/apr_slots.aspx
The brief explanation does not mention how in addition to the 80 movement cap per hour (0600 - 2300 hours daily), there is also a further restriction of (if I recall) 20 movements per quarter hour.
At busy times this can lead to further delay because a previous 15 minute period may have had (say) only 16 movements but the next quarter hour cannot have 24 to 'compensate': that is apparently not allowed. In this situation, unpunctuality may on occasion compound because of these severe movement restrictions. This latter restriction would not seem optimal to many passengers, but the answer as to why it is there may come from 'noise politics' from local residents who in the past made their objections about unlimited numbers of planes landing and taking off vociferously known to Federal Members of Parliament.
I assume that a lot of this slot management is good, instantly available record keeping so presumably this is a task for software companies with logistics or aviation experience, or both. This is all 'behind the scenes' yet given that the number of permitted aircraft movements is finite, it is an essential part of keeping aircraft and passengers 'on the move.'
The closest surface travel equivalent is a dense railway timetable, sometimes with closer headways than achievable in aviation. Nonetheless the SYD airport operations must be challenging at times as we see when the weather is nasty as was the case a day and a half ago.
Provincial airlines such as Regional Express have long been able to resist a forced move to Bankstown airport. It will be interesting to see if this slot manager has a view on that, but the matter is also 'political' in nature with The Nationals (a vital part of the Federal Coalition Government) steadfastly opposed to any move of such airlines away from Sydney Airport, even if those who suggest it regard having very small aircraft taking up 'valuable slots' as sub-optimal.
The slot manager's jurisdiction will presumably not extend to any consideration as to whether the SYD airport curfew should be scrapped, reduced in duration or otherwise modified.
I am not a Sydney (or NSW) resident but my perception is that the 'noise debate' has become less 'noisy' in the last two or three years as passenger aircraft continue to (on average) become quieter. Is my hypothesis way off beam or naive? What is the likely situation in the run up to the 2016 Federal election - will this again be an issue or is it 'settled'?
Last edited:
