{"id":15597,"date":"2021-11-01T08:19:21","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T12:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=15597"},"modified":"2021-11-01T08:19:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T12:19:21","slug":"bogged-down-in-bogota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/bogged-down-in-bogota\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogged down in Bogota"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bogota International has a problem. <strong>Severe delays.<\/strong> It seems they are as long as the airport&#8217;s official name &#8211; <em>El Dorado International Airport Luis Carlos Gal\u00e1n Sarmiento.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And it isn&#8217;t just the airport with the problem &#8211; delays cost money, they frustrate passengers, waste fuel, result in aircraft circling in the air, and make pilots angry.<\/p>\n<h4>Luckily IATA have a plan.<\/h4>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/centreforaviation.com\/members\/direct-news\/iata-insta-a-las-autoridades-a-solucionar-de-manera-urgente-los-problemas-operacionales-en-el-aeropu-578091\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">set of recommendations<\/a> were issued by them on October 7, 2021 suggesting how these severe delays might be severely improved.<\/p>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t speak Espa\u00f1ola,\u00a0here it is (briefly) in English:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Elimination of the ground delay program.<\/li>\n<li>Prioritisation of commercial services during peak hours.<\/li>\n<li>Restriction of non-commercial services to off-peak hours without exceeding allocated quota.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure ATC centers and control towers are adequately staffed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Before we get into all that though\u2026<\/h4>\n<p>We thought we would take a look at the airport, procedures and current situation, and ask just how bad the &#8220;severe&#8221; delays are.<\/p>\n<h4>How bad are the severe delays?<\/h4>\n<p>The main problem seems to be with the<strong> ground delays.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since May 2021 the Ground Delay Program (the one that holds aircraft at their departure airport because there isn&#8217;t room for them at the destination) has been invoked some<strong> 300 times<\/strong>. On one day alone it resulted in 130 affected flights, meaning 17,600 passengers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>And on average the delays were between 2 and 4 hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To compare, this is more than all the US airports combined (the August stat was 63), and more than KJFK\/New York, EGLL\/London Heathrow or RJTT\/Tokyo Haneda which, let&#8217;s face it, often have delays.<\/p>\n<p><i>Interesting fact: It isn&#8217;t just the airport. It is also the most congested city in the world. Drivers lose on\u00a0average 133 hours of their life to traffic jams every year.<\/i><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15621\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15621\" class=\"wp-image-15621 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad-1024x527.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"527\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad-1024x527.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad-300x154.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad-768x395.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad-1536x790.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDorad.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scheduled, commercial flights will be prioritised.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>Elimination of the GDP<\/h4>\n<p>This is *normally used at airports that have some sort of bad weather type situation going on, and is designed to <strong>prevent aircraft having to hold in the air<\/strong> because, you know,\u00a0<i>fuel issues&#8230;<\/i><\/p>\n<p>If you want to read more about it, then<a href=\"https:\/\/nbaa.org\/aircraft-operations\/airspace\/tfm\/tools-used-for-traffic-flow-management\/ground-delay-program-gdp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> check out this handy article from the NBAA<\/a> which is all about just that.<\/p>\n<p>The way it is being applied at SKBO unfortunately is not entirely as intended and while it prevents holding in the air, it is having a<strong> knock on effect<\/strong> at departure airports with blocked stands, and for operators with aircraft utilisation and schedules.<\/p>\n<p>So eliminating the program will hopefully *encourage better ATC traffic planning, or will require <strong>better ATC traffic planning in order to eliminate the program<\/strong>. Either way, that would be beneficial.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15623\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15623\" class=\"wp-image-15623\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDo-staff.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"659\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDo-staff.jpeg 805w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDo-staff-300x193.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ElDo-staff-768x494.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SkyTrax recognised staff at El Dorado as some of the best!<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>Prioritisation and\u00a0Restriction<\/h4>\n<p>The plan is to <strong>restrict peak hour slots<\/strong> to scheduled commercial traffic only. The benefit of this is schedules are actually kept. Aircraft routing in will also be <strong>prioritised if they are a scheduled carrier.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For private or ad-hoc flights this will mean less availability of slots, permits (during peak times) and general flexibility in operation times.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, the permit process for landing is pretty quick. If you are going to spend<strong> less than 48 hours on the ground<\/strong> at one airport only then you don&#8217;t need a permit. The CAA is efficient and responsive and you can contact them at <strong>+571 296 2208 \/ <\/strong><a href=\"mailto:sobrevuelos@aerocivil.gov.co\">sobrevuelos@aerocivil.gov.co<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>ATC<\/h4>\n<p>A lack of qualified ATC staff means<strong> efficiency in their procedures cannot really improve.<\/strong> One of the issues is poor labour and pension conditions &#8211; something ATC have previously gone on strike over, back in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreleasepoint.com\/colombian-air-traffic-controllers-warn-staff-shortages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The current shortage<\/a> has seen shift times increase from<strong> 6 to 12 hours<\/strong> leading to more sick leave and fatigue, leading to a cycle of longer hours.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New radio systems<\/strong> were <a href=\"https:\/\/airport-world.com\/new-communications-technology-for-colombias-atc-towers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">installed across 36 more airport in Colombia earlier in 2021<\/a>, adding to the 80 already benefiting from a system which enables a <strong>centralised network area<\/strong> and <strong>better redundancy<\/strong> for controllers. In addition, there is a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indracompany.com\/sites\/default\/files\/indra_atm_colombia_e-1_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> specific plan for ATC at Bogota Airport.<\/a> It involves installing better navigation communication systems, surveillance and management systems and more automation.<\/p>\n<h4>A new El Dorado<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/centreforaviation.com\/data\/profiles\/newairports\/new-bogota-el-dorado-ii-airport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">El Dorado II was under construction,<\/a> due to open <strong>2022,\u00a0<\/strong>and the new airport would have substantially improved the capacity for the region. In 2018, the government suggested they would scrap this and <strong>expand the existing airport instead.<\/strong> The expansion plan includes the moving of military operations to a dedicated military base, and new terminals and infrastructure.<\/p>\n<h4>Anything else?<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>GDP are not the only delays you can expect coming to SKBO. Reports of <strong>3 hour waits for fuel trucks,<\/strong> issues obtaining departure clearance, and hold-ups in Customs (related to passports, not bandits) are relatively common.<\/li>\n<li>The &#8220;<i>operational concept of TMA BOGOTA is based on defined trajectories and the homogeneity in\u00a0speeds to be able to maintain an orderly, safe and efficient flow.&#8221; <\/i>In other words, <strong>fly the speeds you&#8217;re told to fly<\/strong>, they are pretty strict on it.<\/li>\n<li>The airport is high altitude which means your TAS will be around 15% higher than IAS. Which means you might find slowing down harder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bogota International has a problem. Severe delays. It seems they are as long as the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":15605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[385,231],"class_list":{"0":"post-15597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-bogota","9":"tag-colombia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15597"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15851,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15597\/revisions\/15851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}