ABZ 24 hour ops
 

As you may know there is currently a debate raging in the North East about whether ABZ should move to 24 hour operations. Currently no aircraft can land or depart between the hours of 11pm & 6.30am.

Most of the 'red eye' flights start leaving at 6.30am on the dot. Will airlines already have planned earlier departure times for when the new opening hours go through?

I assume the Amsterdam and CDG flights will want to leave earlier as we are already one hour behind.

FBB

Apparently any decision to be made has been deferred to March sometime

Link to BBC report
Well, apparently they have decided not to make a decision. :mad: Jeez, when are these people going to stop sitting on the fence and make a decision. Obviously too many influential voters in the Dyce area!

I can understand that during periods of bad weather, it would be convenient to allow fixed wing and offshore operators to get their aircraft back where they're supposed to be by having a later closing time, and equally opening an hour earlier in the morning makes sense.

But aside from that window of perhaps an extra three hours, does the demand really exist for 24 hour opening?

Thanks for your responses however my wish wasn't to kick off another 'yes / no' debate. I travel regularly to Amsterdam on the 'red eye' and to leave an hour earlier would suit me down to the ground. My original question, and it still stands, are airlines likely to bring departure times forward assuming the opening hours are extended?

FBB

Morning FBB,

Can't really speak for AF but while i was flying for KLC/uk out of ABZ this topic often came up. I 'doubt' that KL would bring the departure time of 'red eye' forward purley because of the voulume of traffic into AMS at that time of day. As you will know that flight does get hit with some horrendous ATC Slots from time to time and i don't know if bringing the STD forward an hour would help that. I am just speculating here obviously. The other thing that may affect that would be the crews hours. As there are no longer any ABZ crew i don't know how they operate their rotation so rest may be a issue.

Anyway that's just my opinion.
Rooster:ok:

FlyBoyBen

It would really depend on whether the airline could get the corresponding slot into the destination. Places like AMS and LHR are notoriously crowded, especially early morning inbounds. I would say the chances on these routes would be slim. However, routes into less congested airfields may see a benefit, particularly if it is linking into a connecting flight. It also has operational benefits to get the aircraft moving sooner, i.e. an extra half an hour to play catch up for any delays, bringing subsequent flights forward in competition with other carriers.