Rockhampton Airport Standard Arrivals and Departures
August 2017
Airservices is the government-owned corporation responsible for providing air traffic management and aviation rescue and fire-fighting services in Australia. Each year we manage more than four million flights across the country involving some 90 million passengers, including those operating to and from Rockhampton Airport. Aviation is critical to the broader economy and effectively links our people with each other and the rest of the world. Airservices continually improves and updates navigation systems into Australian airports to make air travel safer and more predictable. The navigation systems used by aircraft at Rockhampton Airport are to be updated to the latest available technology in August 2017.
What is being changed and why?
Satellite based arrival and departure routes are being implemented. A growing number of modern aircraft are now fitted with navigation systems that use satellite assisted guidance. Specialised flight management systems in the cockpit can use Global Positioning System (GPS) information to fly aircraft with a higher accuracy. These systems are known in aviation circles as Required Navigation Performance (RNP) –meaning the aircraft can perform with a strict set of navigation parameters. These routes are designed to improve safety and predictability at Rockhampton Airport, particularly during inclement weather and at night.
Where are the new tracks at Rockhampton?
The proposed flight paths have been designed to overfly residential areas that are currently being overflown now, or to fly over non-residential areas. These flight paths are generally only expected to be used when weather conditions are poor and at night. During fine weather most aircraft are expected to fly as they do now.
Will I notice any increase or change in noise?
Changes to aircraft tracking may be noticed by some residents to the north and east of Rockhampton with noise levels not expected to increase.
When will this change start?
Aircraft will commence using these procedures mainly during periods of poor weather and at night from 17 August 2017.
This page provides a summary of the flight path and airspace changes we implemented in 2017.
