Perth Airport operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is Australia’s fourth largest airport in terms of passenger numbers and the principal international, interstate, and intrastate airport in Western Australia.  Watch this video to find out more about how Perth Airport operates, then read on for more details.

The nature of the resource sector’s fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workforce, and connections to international flights, sees Perth Airport experience significant peak periods.  In the early morning, there is a departures peak that can result in up to 40 aircraft departing each hour for a two to three hour period.  In the afternoon, there is an arrivals peak which sees up to 26 aircraft arriving each hour for a two to three hour period.

Runway selection decisions are made by Airservices Australia, the national air navigation service provider.

For the majority of time, the two runways are used dependently, meaning that the separation of aircraft considers other aircraft operating on each runway; this increases the required separation between aircraft.  The two runways can be used in various configurations.  Weather conditions, including wind speed and direction, may not allow the use of the two runway configurations; therefore, a single runway is used.

Generally, aircraft at Perth Airport operate in either a North Flow or a South Flow runway configuration.

In North Flow, aircraft land in a northerly direction flying over Queens Park and Redcliffe on arrival, and take off over Guildford and Bellevue on departure.
In South Flow, aircraft land in a southerly direction flying over Guildford and Bellevue on arrival, and take off over Queens Park on departure. In certain wind and weather conditions, aircraft will occasionally take off on Runway 24 over Redcliffe.