FED: 45-second-late Virgin flight ordered to passover

00-00-0000
FED: 45-second-late Virgin flight ordered to passover

By Graeme Webber

SYDNEY, Aug 8 AAP - A fully-laden Boeing 737 was ordered to abandon a landing at SydneyAirport and return to Melbourne because it broke a curfew by less than a minute, VirginBlue airlines said today.

The plane had descended to about 65 metres above ground level when air traffic controllersinstructed the pilot to go around - 45 seconds after the 11pm (AEST) curfew had passed.

Consequently, 170 passengers were flown back to Melbourne and Virgin Blue footed hotelbills for out-of-town customers and offered free flights as compensation.

Virgin Blue spokesman David Huttner said the airline had a technical problem, whichdelayed the flight, and air traffic authorities initially approved a flight extensionto land before 11pm (AEST).

But then the landing was stopped when the flight was further delayed.

The airline lodged a complaint with the Federal Transport Minister and Mr Huttner saida review was under way to find out what went wrong.

Contrary to the aims of the no-fly curfew, Mr Huttner said the plane would have madeeven more noise as it accelerated and flew off over neighbouring suburbs.

"In this particular instance, the problem actually affected a lot more people by (theplane) thrusting and going out over neighbouring communities," he said.

A spokesman for Air Services Australia, which is responsible for air traffic, saidthe pilot was given permission to fly faster and take a shorter route in order to arrivebefore the deadline "but he didn't make it".

The spokesman said he could not confirm Virgin's claim that the pilot only missed outby 45 seconds.

"The flight was running late and air traffic controllers did everything they couldto get it here ahead of the curfew," he said.

"In the end, it didn't make it so it had to turn back to Melbourne."

Mr Huttner did not blame air traffic controllers for following government policy, buthe said there seemed to be a communication problem that needed to be clarified.

"It was nobody's fault," he said.

"There's an exemption process and the exemption process didn't go through last night."

AAP gmw/nf/was/de

KEYWORD: CURFEW