Aircraft Continuous Descent Trial

Airservices Australia will run a Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) trial for northern and south-eastern arrivals into Melbourne Airport. The trial initially proposed to operate from late 2023 until April 2024, will now be conducted from 21 March 2024 until 1 July 2024. You can provide feedback during the trial using the Survey tool at the bottom of this page.

About the trial

Landing procedures traditionally involve aircraft descending in successive steps from cruising altitudes to the runway. In a Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) approach the aircraft flies from cruise altitude all the way down to the runway in one smooth and uninterrupted descent. CDO provides airlines a predictable idle descent, saving fuel, reducing carbon emissions and potentially decreasing descent noise.

As part of the trial into Melbourne Airport, we are creating additional waypoints for pre-determined arrival flight paths that aircraft can be directed to when there is a time delay required to safely manage air traffic into the airport. This will enable any delay to be absorbed at a higher altitude and before commencing a smooth descent.

For further information, see our fact sheet here.

The CDO trial will only affect a small proportion of fights into Melbourne, and we expect a large majority of current aircraft operations to remain unchanged.

To provide feedback during the trial, please use the Survey or Feedback tools at the bottom of this page.

For questions relating to specific aircraft operations or to make a complaint, please contact our Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS).