YSSY 80 Movements Per Hour
 

My son was returning to Melbourne this evening on QF463 departing at 1830.

They were a little late in leaving the Gate due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft, however when they reached the holding point for departure, the Captain announced on the PA that ATC were enforcing the 80 movements per hour rule, and they would need to hold for 15 min until 7pm and the start of the new hour.

Is this normal, or just being enforced temporarily for some reason ?

This rule has been around for a while as far as I know but I stand to be corrected. Often if you listen to ATC in the morning peak periods you will hear the Air Traffic Controllers mention it in the last 20-30 minutes of an hour telling various aircraft that they will have to wait certain amounts of time in order for the airport to maintain the 80 movements an hour cap.

It's been happening for a few months now, but I've mainly heard it in the morning peak. I did hear delays being announced by ATC on 124.7 this evening, but they were only for 6 minute delays.

Unless it has changed again in the last few weeks, the big change seemed to be that it isn't being monitored in terms of movements per hour, but in terms of movements per 15 minutes (as a proportion of the hour).

Sounds good in theory, except because of the "clumping" nature of flights, I would suggest it is actually introducing delays to aircraft in the name of the 80 movement cap, even when such a cap is not in any danger of being broken. I've seen a few longish (20+ minute) delays due to this, and it is very frustrating that you can see that there are no aircraft behind you in the queue to depart (and so the next 15 minute window will be underused, meaning that there will be no danger to the cap).

As Nigel said, its been in for a few months now. And it is a PITA IMHO. The 80 movements should be planning and scheduling purposes only, not operational.

Its not uncommon to have a line up of 34L deps around 9am with no arrivals, all waiting due to the 80 cap rule. I think AsA are employing someone full time to keep an eye on the 80 hour cap because it has been breeched a few times recently?

Why?
 

What's the rationale for the rule - is it a noise abatement component or something else?

If everything is going OK I can't see why a flight should be held on the ground because a nominal movement cap has been exceeded. It's like a mini curfew in the middle of the day.

In one word politics.

They have a person in the tower counting the movements and when they are getting close to the 80 in a hour they slow everything up or hold aircraft.

This is true.

Anyone want to apply for that position.:D

My recollection is that it's a politcal noise abatement measure that was introduced when 16L/34R was opened.

Philip it's actually always been in the curfew act. Just not enforced.