Airliners.net

If a flight has to be divered from SYD due to curfew restrictions, what are the options? A friend of mine flew HA 451 to SYD. It was scheduled to land at 19:20. The flight was more than 2 hours late, and the plane just made it in time to avoid a diversion. If the flight had to divert, where would it have gone to?

Also, how often is HA 451 delayed? On Thurs, HA 451 leaves HNL at 12:05. This plane comes in from somewhere and gets routed to SYD. Anyone know where it comes in from?

Thanks

Closest diversion is Canberra which is about 30 mins or so flying. But it depends on how much notice of a diversion they have, Brisbane would probably be the most likely with advanced notice as almost anything flying in from Europe, Asia or Nth America would find it closer. If the flight flies on from SYD to say Melbourne then they might just go on to Melbourne first and come back up.

For most domestic flights they might just not take off if they know a diversion is in place. Though the flights in from Perth or Darwin might need to divert given flight times.

Had the flight been close to 23:00, it would have had to divert. Usually, they won't allow a flight where the computer says the plane will get in at 22:50 or later if it is not yet past the diversion airport. This is because SYD has a hard curfew.

QF diverts to BNE. According to the crew of my flight that got in to the gate at 22:55, they divert to BNE and keep everyone on the plane, then take off in the morning timed so they can arrive at SYD as soon as it opens. At BNE the plane is serviced with simple catering and the toilet tanks are emptied, but otherwise everyone stays aboard.

I don't know what HA has for a plan.

CBR, BNE and MEL are the three typical diversion airports. CBR is closest but given limited apron space and no dedicated international processing facilities, it is generally only used as a last resort.

It varies from day to day and situation to situation, with the final decision made by the PIC in consultation with ops control.

While currently QF usually divert to BNE from the Pacific, as Ikramerica says, they also use NAN & AKL and could use NOU. From SE Asia they usually use MEL, have used ADL, PER & DRW. They have also used BNE from Asia & MEL from the Pacific, it depends. I also know of one time when they used GUM! (Although that was weather, not curfew)

More for weather related diversions rather than curfew problems there is also Dubbo, NSW! The local airport was upgraded for B707 operations during the 1960s, specifically for weather related diversions, so anything up to an A330 is fine, not sure about B747 & A380s. Anything bigger than a B737 landing at Dubbo would be an event!

Gemuser

Quoting Gemuser (Reply 4): More for weather related diversions rather than curfew problems there is also Dubbo, NSW! The local airport was upgraded for B707 operations during the 1960s, specifically for weather related diversions, so anything up to an A330 is fine, not sure about B747 & A380s. Anything bigger than a B737 landing at Dubbo would be an event!

Alright, the next time I get diverted I want Dubbo and then we can go to their zoo!  

UA lists the following

RCM/YSRI
NTL/YWLM
CBR/YSCB
MEL/YMML
BNE/YBBN

Though SYD is certified by the FAA to be a destination with no alternate available.

Curfew
• No takeoffs or landings 1300-2000 UTC (1200-1900 DST, late October - late March.)
• Flights with emergencies or insufficient fuel for diversion are exempt from curfew.

Whats the curfew for? Only been to SYD once and was not paying much attention to the surrounding area.

4 of the 6 runways have built-up areas at the end of them.

Quoting Dragon6172 (Reply 7): Whats the curfew for? Only been to SYD once and was not paying much attention to the surrounding area.

SYD is located in the midst of suburbia, the curfew is in place for the benefit of local residents.

Quoting VHSMM (Reply 9): the curfew is in place for the benefit of local residents

And to the detriment of everyone else in Australia...

The airport could revise the rule to allow for the most modern, quiet aircraft only after 11pm and before 1am, and nobody would notice. That would allow for all A380 traffic to get an extra two hours, for example.

Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 10): And to the detriment of everyone else in Australia...

No arguement there. I'm just waiting for a government will the guts to abolish the curfew.   

I won't hold my breath.