Brisbane Airport’s on-time performance soars

Brisbane Airport (BNE) has been named one of the world’s most punctual airports in the 2015 OAG flightview Punctuality League Report: On-time performance (OTP) results for airlines and airports.

In the medium airport category (10-20 million departing scheduled seats per annum), BNE achieved a respectable 88.31 per cent average for flights departing on time (classified as within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure).

This achievement is due to a number of initiatives introduced over several years to safely extract additional capacity out of the current runway and operating systems at BNE.

Julieanne Alroe, Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) CEO and Managing Director, welcomed the report crediting the excellent on-time performance result to a committed and collaborative approach by the Brisbane Airport aviation industry partners – BAC, Airservices Australia and airline operators.

“In 2012, BAC partnered with Airservices Australia and the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which manages air-traffic control in the United Kingdom, to deliver an Airport Capacity Enhancement (ACE) program at major airports across Australia.

“The goal of the ACE Program at BNE specifically was to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and to increase the use of existing assets and infrastructure to increase runway capacity and reduce congestion and delays, particularly during peak traffic periods.

“Some of ACE’s initiatives included increasing the use of the short cross-runway, improving pilot reaction times and reducing runway and taxiway occupancy times to reduce the time required for take-offs and landings, optimising aircraft sequencing, and introducing more standardisation across different operators and aircraft types.

“It’s exciting to see the results of these industry-wide efforts pay off with such a remarkable turn-around on on-time performance at Brisbane Airport. It’s a credit to everyone involved with the travelling public reaping the rewards,” Ms Alroe said.

Additionally, the introduction of a Runway Demand Management Scheme (RDMS) and an air traffic flow management program by Airservices to better manage aircraft movements during peak times at BNE have also contributed to Brisbane Airport being named one of the world’s most punctual.

Jason Harfield, Airservices Acting CEO, acknowledged the cooperation between air traffic control, Brisbane Airport and the airlines in helping to deliver a world-class performance and achieve significant reductions in airborne holding and delays.

“Working together we’ve been able to efficiently manage the increased growth in air traffic while simultaneously ensuring that safety remains our number one priority,” Mr Harfield said.

Other benefits of the improved runway system reliability is the progressive reduction in Fuel Advisory notices, with the amount of contingency fuel required to be carried by operators flying to Brisbane being reduced, providing significant airline operating benefits.

The AOG flightview Punctuality Report is the industry’s most recognised annual ranking of on-time performance (OTP) for airlines and airports. The full report can be downloaded online here.