Dedicated Albany-Perth Route Structure

Airservices Australia is formalising the use of separated northbound and southbound flight routes between Albany and Perth airports. The existing flight route between Albany and Perth is a single route that is used in both directions. This two-way route is currently used by an average of six flights per day and nine flights on a typical busy day.

To meet safe aircraft separation standards, there are times where ATC need to re-route some of these aircraft away from the two-way route. Re-routing typically occurs for five per cent of flights between Albany and Perth, and 10 per cent of flights between Perth and Albany. The flight paths currently used for re-routing aircraft will become permanently separated routes (refer Figure 1 below).

A fact sheet describing the changes to the route is available here.

Figure 1: Current route structure (pink) with northbound (purple) and southbound (yellow) re-routing options shown.

While this change will not affect the total number of flights operating between Albany and Perth, the following areas may notice changes following the formalisation of the northbound and southbound routes. There are no new residential areas that will be exposed to aircraft noise as a result of this change.

For departing operations, the area of Green Valley will likely experience peak noise levels from jet aircraft between 70-85 dB (A) twice per day on a typical busy day, which may disturb activities such as conversation and watching television.

For arrival operations over Denbarker and Forest Hill, aircraft noise events at ground level are expected to be up to 65 dB (A). The communities of Tenterden, Cranbrook and Kendenup and a section of the Dwellingup State Forest may experience aircraft noise levels between 40-60 dB (A). These noise levels are similar to a conversation in a busy office.

These changes are scheduled to be implemented on 15 June 2023.