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The number of ground delays attributable to Airservices hit a new record low in July, the air traffic management body says.
While total ground delays were up 33 per cent during the month, most of these were due to weather issues including crosswinds at Sydney and low visibility events in Brisbane and Melbourne, and just 2 per cent were attributable to Airservices.
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According to Airservices’ Australian Aviation Network Overview report for July 2024, this is the lowest since measuring of Airservices-attributable ground delays began in January 2023.
“Notwithstanding our efforts to limit the impact of our capacity constraints, the consistency of our performance still needs to improve,” the report read.
“Increasing operational resourcing and improving flexible workforce deployment remains our top priority to eliminate air traffic management (ATM) attribution to delay and improve the operations of the network as a whole.”
According to Airservices, July was a “challenging month” for Australia’s aviation sector due to disruptions from weather events, the global CrowdStrike software outage, and Rex’s suspension of domestic jet operations.
“Against this backdrop, the Australian aviation network still recorded four per cent growth from the previous month in terms of daily average flights, driven by the school holiday period and Paris Olympic Games,” the report read.
“The mining sector continues to drive strong growth in passenger flights at regional aerodromes in Western Australia and Queensland. This is putting pressure on the regional network, leading to congestion and delays especially during peak periods. At the end of July 2024, the suspension of Rex’s Boeing 737 services impacted 10 routes which are serviced by alternative airlines.
“Coordinated cross-industry measures to better prepare and respond to [adverse weather] events are being progressed, including joint development of what-if scenarios and alternative demand/capacity balancing plans.
“These measures will strengthen network reliability and deliver a more consistent experience for the travelling public.”
Airservices last month said on-time performance in the Australian aviation industry had reached its highest levels in three years.
On-time arrivals and departures were at 79 per cent across the sector in May 2024, both up 5 per cent on May 2023 but below May 2019 levels, according to Airservices’ Australian Aviation Network Overview report for the 2024 financial year.
Cancellations were at 2 per cent, 1 per cent below May 2023 and equal to May 2019. On-time arrivals were still the second-worst of every major region, above only North America at 74 per cent and well below the global average of 86 per cent.
