Originally Posted by
aseanaero
Training Wheels , is it normal for international flights to depart Juanda before airport services open at 6am LT ?
From memory, Air Asia and Citilink were the only ones to depart before 0600. I'm sure they had prior permission to do so. China Airlines (Taiwan) also has a flight to Singapore but depart around 0605. Mandala Tiger, when they were still flying, also had an early morning departure to Singapore but this was after 0600.
During the peak season, there's a huge scramble for Push Back clearance on ground frequency once the clock ticks over 0600. Sometimes you can get up to 10 aircraft in the queue waiting for push back and ATC clearance. We've been delayed by as much as 1 hour because of this mad scramble once the tower opens.