Quote "It is company policy to use intersection takeoffs as far as possible as it saves unnecessary taxi time, as well as extra brake usage..." unquote
Quote: "Cape Town ATC don't understand its pointless using an intersection if its not going to save you any taxi time." unquote
These 2 statements certainly seem to contradict themselves. You want to use an intersection to take-off and save on extra brake usage, but if you have to wait you want to taxi to the holding point and not save on extra brake usage??
Intersection take-offs are NOT initiated by the controllers but are asked for by the pilots themselves. They are not dependant of ATC input, but are requested when certain operational criteria are met within the cockpit and I was told taxi time was right at the very bottom of the queue, if at all.
As to waiting at the hold, I fail to see how it affects your operation if you wait at the intersection hold or the runway hold. After all it was the pilot that requests the intersection. If there is an a/c on final you are going to wait whether it is at the hold or the intersection.
There are often many factors which are beyond the aerodrome controllers control pertaining to when you can depart, ie traffic passing overhead, the a/c waiting to depart is early for their CTOT based on your AOBT, etc etc
I know from 20 odd years as an aerodrome controller many many pilots only request an intersection departure when the are taxiing to try and jump the queue which if you ask me is not very professional. The way I see it if you have to wait at the hold at least u are sitting waiting as opposed to using a lot more fuel to taxi all the way to the hold.
There are some times you are going to have to wait and that is a fact of flying. An interesting point from a colleague - he gets rilled when pilots ask for the intersection if no delay.... if seems they want to have their cake and eat it. (it seems to infer you want to have the intersection and be moved up to the front of the queuend why should they have a delay?)