Narrative:

New briefing page format and major changes. We were enroute to abq and were discussing the arrival to runway 26; the active runway at the time. We talked about the high terrain east of the airport and plotted some references in the FMGC and discussed that although there are two RNAV approaches in the database; we have no charts for those approaches (turns out they are rnp and na). I had looked at the briefing page earlier to review how close the nearest alternates were and added some fuel because of the distance and the winds. I also noted the format and thought how difficult it was to read because of the typeface and font size. We both looked at the briefing page while planning the landing phase; primarily for gate information and I glanced through the notes and thought there was a lot less information than before; I believe turbulence and wind shear used to be discussed. The safety alert (in relatively big print and boxed) discusses arrivals to 26; but nothing about not using the runway. After discussing our arrival plan; I took another look at the briefing page; and saw; in very small type; that 26 was not authorized at night. My first officer and I both thought 26 was a better option than runway 30; which is only 6;000 feet long at the high altitude airport; but because of the recent change; it was our only option. Fortunately; the winds died down and ATC was able to fit us onto runway 30. I called dispatch and he was not aware of the change either and thought (as do I); that this should have been a NOTAM. I contacted [a fleet captain] for the A320 who confirmed this was a recent change; he was also surprised at the briefing page format. He told me that a published visual approach is being worked on; but when winds are out of the west; the current situation is not good. When major changes to an airport's operation are made it should not be buried in small print. It is not even prominent in the runway 26 notes; it is last. In journalism; they call it burying the lead! Finally; the [old] format is much easier to read; especially at night and there are revision bars! That way; changes; even if buried; would be more apparent.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reports discovering enroute to ABQ that night visual approaches to Runway 26 are no longer authorized by his company and that the change is not obvious when scanning the Briefing Page.

Narrative: New Briefing Page format and major changes. We were enroute to ABQ and were discussing the arrival to Runway 26; the active runway at the time. We talked about the high terrain east of the airport and plotted some references in the FMGC and discussed that although there are two RNAV approaches in the database; we have no charts for those approaches (turns out they are RNP and NA). I had looked at the Briefing Page earlier to review how close the nearest alternates were and added some fuel because of the distance and the winds. I also noted the format and thought how difficult it was to read because of the typeface and font size. We both looked at the Briefing Page while planning the landing phase; primarily for gate information and I glanced through the notes and thought there was a lot less information than before; I believe turbulence and wind shear used to be discussed. The safety alert (in relatively big print and boxed) discusses arrivals to 26; but nothing about not using the runway. After discussing our arrival plan; I took another look at the Briefing Page; and saw; in very small type; that 26 was not authorized at night. My First Officer and I both thought 26 was a better option than Runway 30; which is only 6;000 feet long at the high altitude airport; but because of the recent change; it was our only option. Fortunately; the winds died down and ATC was able to fit us onto Runway 30. I called Dispatch and he was not aware of the change either and thought (as do I); that this should have been a NOTAM. I contacted [a fleet Captain] for the A320 who confirmed this was a recent change; he was also surprised at the Briefing Page format. He told me that a published visual approach is being worked on; but when winds are out of the west; the current situation is not good. When major changes to an airport's operation are made it should not be buried in small print. It is not even prominent in the Runway 26 notes; it is last. In journalism; they call it burying the lead! Finally; the [old] format is much easier to read; especially at night and THERE ARE REVISION BARS! That way; changes; even if buried; would be more apparent.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.