PIR progress update

PIR Update

We are pleased to provide a progress update on the Brisbane Airport Flight Path Changes Post Implementation Review (PIR), including the appointment of an independent global air traffic management advisor, Trax International, our response to the Brisbane Airport PIR Advisory Forum’s first Quarterly Progress Report and upcoming PIR activity.

Trax International UK

Trax International (Trax), a United Kingdom based firm, was appointed on 17 December 2021 to independently review and make improvement recommendations across all aspects of the flightpath design, airspace operation and conduct of the Airservices Post Implementation Review of Brisbane airspace. Trax International brings significant experience working on similar airspace, flightpath and airport changes overseas, including in the United Kingdom at both Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

The Trax team includes experts with backgrounds in air traffic operations, flightpath design and community engagement.

Trax have commenced their review and are currently gathering information about the operations and the use of the airspace to inform their recommendations on potential improvement opportunities and their reports will be publicly available.

BAPAF Report

We welcome BAPAF’s first Quarterly Report and have agreed to progress with a number of short-term opportunities to improve noise outcomes for the community.

Short-term Noise Improvements

We are currently progressing as a priority the following noise improvement opportunities identified in the BAPAF Quarterly Report.

Twelve month trial to extend simultaneous opposite direction parallel runway operations (SODPROPS)

This trial will commence on 24 February 2022. Once the trial is in operation we will complete further modelling of traffic levels and weather data to determine if opportunities to extend SODPROPS operations to other times of the day are also possible.

Twelve month trial of full-length runway departures

A12-month trial of full length runway departures from the new runway will commence from 24 February 2022. Noise monitors located at the runway end, Hamilton, Bulimba and New Farm will be used to review noise outcomes. In addition to data gathered from noise monitors, we value community input during these trials, and will request community feedback. A request for feedback will be shared via the Airservices Engage website once the trials have commenced. We will review and report on the trial on a quarterly basis.

Introducing a Noise Abatement Procedure requiring jet aircraft to remain on the Standard Instrument Departure path until they reach 10-12,000 feet

We are completing a detailed review of current Standard Instrument Departure (SID) operations and noise modelling to determine if this Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) will result in increased aircraft operations over any community, thus potentially requiring direct engagement with those impacted prior to implementation of the NAP. We expect to implement the NAP by the end of March 2022.

We are also continuing to progress with the safety case to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for an increased tailwind limit to support more over the bay operations. The safety case is planned to be submitted by the end of March 2022.

PIR Activity

The community workshops planned for February and March 2022 have been rescheduled to occur in May and June 2022. This is for three key reasons:

1. Due to the co-design intent of the workshops, we believe these workshops need to be held face to face, with as many people as possible able to attend to get the best possible outcome. We also want to ensure these workshops are safe and that the current uncertainty created in Brisbane by the COVID-19 Omicron variant does not prevent people from attending.
2. BAPAF has asked Airservices to prioritise our efforts over the immediate term in implementing the agreed near-term noise improvement opportunities. We plan to engage with the community on these opportunities as they are progressed.
3. Since developing the original engagement schedule, we have appointed Trax International to complete an independent review of the flightpaths, our operations and the PIR. We received community feedback during the PIR Terms of Reference engagement that the preference was to present the community with improvement options for discussion, including opportunities from an independent expert with flight path design expertise which was not Airservices or the community. The work Trax is undertaking will provide this input and so we are allowing time for their review to be completed so the recommendations on potential improvements to flightpaths or operations can be shared with the community at the workshops. This will provide an informed starting point for discussions around potential longer-term improvements. We have also asked Trax to attend these sessions to further support the community and PIR outcomes.

In December 2021, we shared the results of the comparison between 2007 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), 2018 Airservices environmental assessment and actual noise levels recorded through noise monitoring. We are completing a similar comparison of actual operations since runway opening and will share this information in coming weeks.

We will seek feedback at the time of sharing this information, to determine if community members would like the opportunity to discuss the outcomes of this comparison via an online forum.