What Zap said.
Both national and foreign carriers seemed to be doing OK with ATC at Heathrow Director, Tokyo Control and SOCAL Approach last time I was there, without being castigated for not reading back previously-requested weather deviations etc. The Aussie read-back requirements are getting ridiculous.
And why does Australia have the ground tugs on aircraft frequencies at our international gateways? Further clutter.
The last major ATC incident that affected my airline was in Australian airspace not that long ago. And in three decades of aviation the only time I've seen two go-rounds in a row due to ATC was at an Australian international airport.
Out of ten on my global rating for efficiency, ease of use and 'pleasantness', the Aussie ATC environment gets a lukewarm 'four' (the Brits get 'ten', and China and India share 'one').
Last edited by Captain Dart; 10th Jan 2012 at 05:38.