Article: Brisbane Airport runway work set to increase flight delays

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Brisbane Airport runway work set to increase flight delays

Exclusive: Brisbane Airport runway work set to increase flight delays

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    August 01, 2012 12:00AM

PLANE delays plaguing Brisbane at night are set to get worse and extend into the day as the airport closes its cross runway for five months.

Brisbane Airport Corporation said the 20-week closure from September was needed to undertake critical preliminary works ahead of construction of the new parallel runway.

Although only 23 flights a day take off and land on the cross runway, adding those flights to the main runway's schedule will mean a take-off or landing every three minutes across all but six hours of each day.

Consultations have been ongoing with airlines and Air Services Australia about how to best manage the closure which will impact heavily on the hectic Christmas holiday period.

Longer delays are also expected to mean an increase in parking revenue for BAC which last year collected almost $85 million in parking fees, or $232,417 a day.

Robert Mason from Civil Air Australia, which represents air traffic controllers, said he expected airlines would put up with delays and being put in holding patterns, rather than reschedule flights out of peak periods.

Already evening flights are being forced into holding patterns over Brisbane for as long as 40 minutes because the cross runway cannot operate at the same time as the main landing strip after dark.

The issue has contributed to worsening on-time performance data at Brisbane Airport, with one in four planes now arriving more than 15 minutes late.

BAC spokeswoman Leonie Vandeven conceded that the flight delays experienced at night were now likely to occur in the morning and afternoon peak periods as well.

But she said the work on the parallel runway was unavoidable.

"We have to construct a drain through the runway, realign the perimeter road, some taxiways are being moved and a new turning area is being built at the end of runway 1432," Ms Vandeven said.

"About 5 to 7 per cent of services use the cross runway. They can all be accommodated on the main runway during this period."

She said the corporation wanted to do the proposed work at the start of the parallel runway construction to avoid greater disruption in coming years.

The new runway is not due for completion until 2020 and is the subject of stalled talks between BAC and airlines over funding arrangements.

Mr Mason said reducing Brisbane Airport to one runway over Christmas would impact on air traffic controllers.

"For these types of situations you really need a spotter as well as someone doing the main control job," Mr Mason said.

"If the situation becomes too dangerous, there is the option of ground delays.

"That is aircraft being held on the ground instead of in the air, until it is safe to fly."

But John Lee, from the Tourism and Transport Forum, urged passengers and airport users to be understanding during the enforced runway closure.

"This is a case of minor short-term inconvenience for significant long-term benefits," he said.

"This is work that needs to be done and that will add substantial capacity to Brisbane Airport and that will benefit airlines and the tourism industry in Queensland in the future."

Brisbane Airport Corporation this year will introduce a new management system for the main runway, allowing airlines to pay for a time slot to ensure they land when they need to.