From Wikipedia
Could those holdings into BNE be caused by lack of staff instead of single runway? Have you ever wondered why after holding prior landing you touch down and look around at the traffic in and out and wonder Where is the traffic !!
Is the separation standard in Oz higher than Europe or the states? Am I looking at this too simplistic !?
Gatwick Airport [nb 1] (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is located 3.1 mi (5.0 km) north of the centre of Crawley,[1] West Sussex, and 29.5 mi (47.5 km) south of Central London.[4] Also known as London Gatwick,[5] it is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow.[6] Furthermore, Gatwick is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights[nb 2][7] and has the world's busiest single-use runway with up to 53 aircraft movements per hour in late-2012 and a maximum capacity of 55 movements per hour.[8][9] Its two terminals – North and South – cover an area of 98,000 m2 (1,050,000 sq ft) and 160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft) respectively.[10]
In 2012, 34.2 million passengers passed through Gatwick.[11]
From Airservices
In 2011 Brisbane Airport averaged 545 movements a day. Eighteen international airlines operate through Brisbane Airport, but the majority of the traffic consists of medium jets and turbo-props.
From the Brisbane Airport web site
CAUSES
The main cause of delays is the high level of demand for aircraft to land or take off at Brisbane during peak times. Over the last 12 months flights have increased by up to 80 movements per day, totalling up to 700 flights per week day. The recent growth in demand has been driven by unprecedented activity in regional flights, domestic airlines increasing the number of flights available and strong population growth.
Maybe there is room for improvement.