Darwin Airport named Australia's 'birdstrike capital' by government report

The Australian city of Darwin has been named the nation's 'birdstrike capital', after a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found the birdstrike rate at Darwin Airport was almost four times that at major airports in Melbourne and Sydney.

The ATSB's "Australian aviation wildlife strike statistics: 2006 - 2015" report showed that Darwin Airport recorded an average of 11.15 strikes per 10,000 plane movements during the 2006-2015 period.

In comparison, much larger airports in Sydney and Melbourne suffered a birdstrike rate of 3.63 and 3.05 per 10,000 aircraft movements respectively.

The ATSB's Stuart Godley told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the number of birdstrikes in Darwin had jumped sharply "in the last two years".

"In Darwin we have seen an increase in the last two years, compared to the average for the last 10 years," Godley said.

According to the ATSB report, the most commonly struck types of flying animal in the 2014/15 period were bats, swallows/martins, kites, and wading birds such as lapwings and plovers.

"Galahs were more commonly involved in birdstrikes of multiple birds, with more than 38 percent of Galah strikes involving more than one Galah," the report said. "However, larger birds were more likely to result in aircraft damage."

The ATSB said while animal strikes involving non-flying animals occurred from time-to-time, they were "relatively rare".

"Compared to birdstrikes, ground-based animal strikes are relatively rare. The most common animals involved were rabbits, kangaroos, wallabies, and wild dogs and foxes," the report said. Endit