Emirates Faces $1.1 Million Fine For Breaching Sydney Airport Curfew

Emirates Airline is facing a fine of $1.1 million after one its aircraft allegedly departed from Sydney after the airport's 11 p.m. curfew. Sydney Airport regulations stipulate flights are not allowed to land or take off between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

According to reports in Australia, government officials are investigating claims an Emirates flight took off from the airport on Jan 8 at 11:15pm, despite claims it was refused permission to do so from air traffic control officials.

Emirates flight EK413 from Sydney to Dubai on 8th January was delayed due to fuel delivery issues caused by a thunderstorm that evening, an Emirates spokesperson confirmed in a statement.

"Sydney Airport should have shouldered Emirates cost for a delayed flight if that was the case - the delayed fuel supply is an airport issue, it's not Emirates fault at all," said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research. "It's clear that consent must have been given or the flight would not have taken off - the cost of a delayed flight, putting up passengers for the night and disrupting flight crew scheduling as well as misplaced airplanes could well have cost Emirates countless hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whether they can escape the fine is up for debate but is does seem odd that the Australian authorities allowed the flight at all and are now seeking damages for it."

The curfew at Sydney was brought into force in 1995 after complaints from local residents. However, it has been the cause of much debate among the Australian travel industry and this latest incident related to Emirates has reignited calls for it to be scrapped.The Tourism Industry Council New South Wales described the curfew as "absurd" and called for it to be more flexible.

"That flights are not given dispensation to depart after 11 p.m. after many hours of weather-related delays sends a message to the world that Sydney and NSW are not serious about attracting international tourists," the council's general manager Andrew Jefferies told the Herald Sun newspaper. "It is time that the Federal Government reviewed the curfew legislation and gave serious consideration to relaxing some of these constraints in order to provide Sydney Airport with greater operational flexibility so that inbound tourists continue to have a positive experience of Sydney, NSW and Australia.

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