Brisbane Airport Flight Path Changes Post Implementation Review

Trax International (Trax) is holding a series of Community Focus Groups in Brisbane during June 2022. The main goal of the focus groups is to share information and listen and learn from people affected by aircraft noise. The focus groups intend to:

• Discuss the potential improvement opportunities identified in the Interim Report
• Gather feedback from communities about their experiences of aircraft noise in different areas
• Start a dialogue with communities about options to manage and mitigate noise impacts

The outputs of the focus groups will be used, alongside contributions from other stakeholders, to inform Trax’ Final Report.

Trax has provided a flyer outlining these focus groups. This can be found here.

To register for one of the following sessions, click here.

Focus Group Details:

Duration: Each session is expected to run for approximately 2 Hours

Dates, Locations & Start Time:

• Saturday 11/06/2022 - Wynnum Municipal Hall - 2PM
• Sunday 12/06/2022 - Samford (location TBA) - 9AM
• Sunday 12/06/2022 - Upper Brookfield Hall - 3PM
• Monday 13/06/2022 - Toombul Bowls Club - 6PM
• Wednesday 15/06/2022 - Morningside Panthers Football Club - 6PM
• Thursday 16/06/2022 - Morningside Panthers Football Club - 6PM
• Saturday 18/06/2022 - New Farm State School - 9AM
• Saturday 18/06/2022 - Hamilton Town Hall - 5:30PM
• Sunday 19/06/2022 - New Farm State School - 9AM
• Sunday 19/06/2022 - Cannon Hill Community Centre - 3PM

Trax will also be available on Tuesday 14 June 2022 between 9AM and 4PM at Aviation Australia (20 Boronia Rd, Brisbane Airport) for informal drop-in style discussions.

Trax International (Trax) released an Interim Report identifying a range of potential short, medium, and long-term improvement opportunities in April. These opportunities are now being reviewed in more detail.

In June, Trax will hold workshops and invite community input as they work towards the development of their final report.

The sessions will be advertised via this site, with alerts sent out to registered community members. We will advise of the dates and locations of these sessions next week.

UPDATE 12:06 PM AEST: The technical systems issue in the Brisbane tower has been resolved. Standard operations have now resumed, noting the ongoing variable weather conditions in Brisbane may still affect some aircraft movements from time to time.

UPDATE 09:31 AM AEST: Due to a technical systems issue in the Brisbane tower, we have had to adjust the way we are operating flights into and out of the airport. Some communities may notice different operations to what would normally be expected. This is a temporary situation that is required to ensure arriving and departing aircraft are safely managed while we seek to restore full operation of our system. We will provide updates on this page as we resolve the issue.

Due to the current significant weather conditions across Brisbane and the South East, some communities may be experiencing aircraft movements or operations different to what they would normally experience.

During storm activity, aircraft often need to manoeuvre around this bad weather, creating aircraft overflight in locations that may not normally experience this.

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach, which is runway aligned and commences approximately 26 kilometres from the airport, is used to safely guide aircraft to the runway during poor visibility. The other approaches closer to the airport will generally not be used during this sort of weather as they require more stable conditions, and modes that keep all traffic over the bay are often not available.

As soon as the weather allows, we will return to normal operations.

We are pleased to advise that Airservices and Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) have submitted a safety case and supporting material to request an increase in the tailwind limit for Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) at Brisbane Airport, from 5-knots to 7-knots.

If approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the overall volume of time that arrivals and departures will be able to operate simultaneously over the bay will be increased.

This is one of a number of important initiatives currently being pursued to minimise aircraft noise in communities under Brisbane Airport flight paths.

Airservices and Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) have been working jointly to develop a safety case and supporting material that justifies increasing the tailwind limit for Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) from 5-knots to 7-knots.

If approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the overall volume of time when the wind conditions permit arrivals and departures to operate simultaneously over the bay will be increased.

Airservices previously uploaded a document on our industry Engage portal intended for airline stakeholders as part of engagement seeking their support for the 7-knot submission, which if approved would lead to increased over the bay operations and noise respite for communities.

This important work is continuing and a safety case will be submitted to CASA by the end of April 2022. It is one of a number of important initiatives that will contribute to achieving an overall net benefit relating to aircraft noise at Brisbane Airport.

The trials to extend SODPROPs hours of operation and restrict intersection departures from the new parallel runway commenced on 24 February 2022 and are continuing to be implemented. We look forward to sharing the outcomes of the first three months of these trials in June 2022.

We also undertook to complete a detailed review of current Standard Instrument Departure (SID) operations by 31 March 2022, to support the introduction of a Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) requiring jet aircraft to remain on the SID path until they reach 10,000-12,000 feet. This review has been completed and safety work is now progressing. We are also completing noise modelling on the current SID operations and the proposed NAP operations to determine if engagement with communities located under the SIDs might be required. We will provide a further update following completion of this work.

Provide your feedback

We have requested community feedback on the trials, particularly any difference in noise or operations experienced. Please use our online form at any time over the 12-month trial period to provide your input.

If you have specific questions or complaints about aircraft operations, please contact our Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS).

We are pleased to inform you that the Trax International (Trax) ‘Brisbane New Parallel Runway Flight Paths Post Implementation Review Independent Assurance Interim Report’ is now available via the Airservices website.

Trax was appointed by Airservices Chief Executive Officer, Jason Harfield, to independently review and make improvement recommendations across all aspects of the Brisbane Post Implementation Review (PIR), with a particular focus on opportunities to limit and, where possible, reduce the impacts of aircraft noise.

The Interim Report is the first phase of the Trax review, identifying a range of potential short, medium, and long-term improvement opportunities.

Airservices has prepared an Implementation Approach to consider the improvement opportunities identified in the Trax Interim Report, including opportunities that can be readily progressed and others that will require more detailed analysis and consultation with stakeholders, including policy and regulatory agencies, industry, and the community.

Trax is expected to publish their Final Report in June 2022. Airservices has invited Trax to present the findings of their Final Report and discuss potential improvement opportunities at community workshops due to be held mid this year.

Brisbane Airport Corporation will be performing regular runway heavy maintenance works on both runways on 25 March from 7am to 4pm, and 26 and 27 March 2022 from 6am to 6pm. These essential maintenance works are carried out twice every year to ensure the runways remain safe and operational.

The works will be undertaken on one runway at a time, leaving the other available for ongoing aircraft use. Community members may notice a temporary change to aircraft operations as all arrivals and departures will be conducted using a single runway.

Temporary impact on noise improvement trials

Due to runway availability, Airservices will be temporarily unable to run the trial to extend Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPs) hours to 8am on Saturday, 26^th March and Sunday, 27^th March, as this requires the use of both runways.

During the works, SODPROPs will remain the preferred operating mode from 10pm to 6am. Please note SODPROPS can only be used when weather and traffic conditions allow. Information on SODPROPS is available in the Runway Operations Fact Sheet.

The trial to restrict intersection departures on the New Parallel Runway will not be affected by these works.

Similar works are scheduled for 28-30^th October 2022, and more information will be provided closer to the time.

If you have specific questions or complaints about aircraft operations, please contact our Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS).

Noise Improvement trials

As part of our commitment to explore all opportunities to minimise noise impacts in Brisbane, Airservices is pleased to advise that the following Noise Improvement Trials have commenced

• Extension of SODPROPS hours
• Restrictions on intersection departures from the New Parallel Runway

Both trials commenced on 24 February and will run for 12 months. Quarterly reviews will be conducted and findings published on this site.

The review reports will be published on this site.

Provide your feedback

We welcome community input on the trials. To provide feedback, please use our online form at any time during the 12-month trials.

We will consider this feedback as part of the quarterly reviews. We are particularly interested in any change to aircraft noise or operations that you notice during these trials.

If you have specific questions or complaints about aircraft operations, please contact our Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS).