Some time ago I was pushing the Sydney Curfew as we called for push in Melbourne.
There was a strong South Easterly at the time and 16 was the duty runway. The queue of taxiing aircraft extended along Alpha as far as Tango. There was no way we could join the queue and still make curfew.
I requested 09 and was promptly told, "Not Available". On querying why I was told Ambulance traffic into Essendon. I asked when it would be available and was told, basically, never. A quick spin of the figures and it transpired we could take 10 knots tail wind on 27 as our only hope of making it. This option was requested, and approved. Good ole overpowered 767.
The next day I was back in Melbourne and phoned the tower to find out why they don't use 09. I have used it, years ago on a classic 747. Why not use it any more? Admittedly Easterlies are rare, but why restrict to one runway with an Easterly? I was initially told, once again, it was ambulance traffic into Essendon. I have a finely tuned BS detector that went off at that point. Sure, ambulance traffic may be a restriction for 5-10 minutes, but that didn't account for the fact 09 hasn't been used in years.
Finally, after much friendly probing (over the phone, get your mind out of the gutter) he finally admitted that there was nobody left in tower/approach that knew how. It was used so infrequently, that the corporate knowledge had gone and nobody left had any idea how to run the sequences.
I was flabbergasted. How could one of Australia's major airports effectively halve its capacity during an Easterly just though lack of training, experience, exposure and corporate knowledge?
I hope things have improved.