Hobart Community and Industry Suggested Alternatives

Airservices has now completed the assessment of Recommendations 4 and 6 from the Hobart Airspace Design Post Implementation Review. We will be holding face-to-face community engagement sessions commencing 12 November 2024 to discuss the outcomes of the assessments. Community sessions will be held at Dodges Ferry, Primrose Sands, Dunalley and Triabunna. These will be drop-in style sessions where community members can have one-on-one and small group conversations with Airservices staff to further understand the outcomes of this work.

Details of the sessions are as follows:

Tuesday 12 November, 1:30pm to 3:30pm

Dodges Ferry

Okines Community House, 540 Old Forcett Road, Dodges Ferry

Tuesday 12 November, 5.00pm to 7.00pm

Primrose Sands

Primrose Sands Community Centre, 570 Primrose Sands Road, Primrose Sands

Wednesday 13 November, 5.00pm to 7.00pm

Dunalley

Dunalley Community Hall, 5 Franklin Street, Dunalley

Thursday 14 November, 11:30am to 1:30pm

Triabunna

Triabunna Community Centre, 3 Vicary St, Triabunna

Anyone who is unable to attend the in-person sessions is welcome to register to attend an online session, which will involve a short presentation followed by questions.

Wednesday 20 November, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Online Session - Click here to register

Information on the two recommendations will shared on this page next week.

Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) trial update

Airservices has reviewed the operation of the trial over its first 3 months.

Between 13 June 2024 and 12 September 2024, there were 1851 arrivals to runway 30. Of these:

• 42 percent used the shorter RNP-AR approach

• 58 percent used the longer RNAV approach.

This result is within the desired success criteria for the trial, and points to its success in better sharing operations between these two arrival paths.

We also looked into adherence with the NAP during the prescribed hours, and identified:

• Two flights were instructed by air traffic control to use the RNP-AR due to emergency services aircraft activity

• One aircraft used the RNP-AR to avoid bad weather

• One aircraft used the RNP-AR outside of tower hours

• Six pilots requested the RNP-AR approach for operational reasons.

Airservices has contacted the relevant airlines to understand the operational reasons for not adhering to the NAP and to encourage use where operationally safe.

Your ongoing feedback will be a key consideration in the assessment of this trial and you can submit your feedback on the NAP trial through our online form available here.

Members of the community are welcome to discuss the details of the NAP trial with our staff at the upcoming engagement sessions.

Airservices has completed assessment of the community suggested recommendations, number 4 and 6, from the Hobart Airspace Review Post Implementation Review (PIR). We are now preparing the relevant information to share with the community on these recommendations and other Hobart operations, including an update on the progress of the Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) trial. We anticipate commencing face-to-face community engagement sessions from mid-October 2024.

In the meantime, we encourage community members to continue providing feedback on the NAP trial through our online form available here. Your feedback will be a key consideration in the assessment of this trial.

Airservices will soon announce the next round of community engagement on the recommendations of the Hobart Airspace Review Post Implementation Review (PIR). We are currently finalising our assessment of the options and anticipate being able to confirm the engagement timing in the next month. In the meantime, we encourage any community members with feedback on the Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) trial, to record your feedback here.

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Airservices has completed community and industry engagement on the additional work requested by our CEO for the Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) Trial. This involved operational safety assessment, including exclusions and exemptions to its use, and the criteria against which the NAP trial success or otherwise will be measured. The assessment found no reason that we should not proceed with the NAP trial, in accordance with the original recommendation from August 2023.

The completion of this additional work was necessary to confirm if any safety risks posed by this change in operations can be mitigated. It also provided the opportunity to further explain when aircraft are not required to apply the NAP and to share our proposed approach to monitoring and measuring the trial’s success.

The NAP trial will commence on 13 June 2024 and will be in effect for a period of 6 months.

Over this period, arriving aircraft to runway 30 will use the RNAV approach (also known as the long approach) between the hours of 2pm and 8am, unless they are exempt for specific reasons. Details on the conditions for exemptions are available here.

Feedback from the community and industry gathered throughout the trial period will inform our assessment of the trial. Members of the public are encouraged to submit feedback via the Have Your Say tab on this page.

We are also currently installing noise monitors in key locations identified by our specialist aircraft noise monitoring consultants to record noise levels throughout the trial. These have been placed at:

• Primrose Sands – to monitor arrivals to runway 30 on the RNP-AR/visual arrival route (short approach)
• Connelly’s Marsh – to monitor arrivals to runway 30 on the RNAV arrival route (long approach) and jet departures from runway 12.

We are also seeking to deploy a noise monitor in the vicinity of Dunalley to monitor overflight in this location. We invite members of the community to contact us at communityengagement@airservicesaustralia.com if you are interested in hosting a noise monitor (noting the location selected will need to meet the required noise monitoring criteria).

Hobart Airport runway works

We have recently become aware that Hobart Airport is planning to commence upgrade works to the runway. We do not expect these works to impact the trial however we are currently working with the airport to understand any changes to existing operations and will provide updates as we learn more.

We have now completed additional detailed operational safety work to more fully understand any risk associated with the proposed NAP trial engaged on in 2023, as well as looking at exclusions and exemptions to its use, and the criteria against which its success or otherwise could be measured.

We have finalised this assessment, which has confirmed that the NAP trial can be safely implemented with appropriate controls, exclusions and exemptions.

With these safety elements now confirmed, the NAP trial will be implemented for a period of 6 months commencing in mid-June 2024.

The proposed NAP would operate between 2pm and 8am, with all arrivals to runway 30 using the RNAV (longer approach) during these hours, excluding valid exemptions.

Further details can be viewed here.

Members of the community are welcome to discuss the details of the NAP trial with our staff at next week’s community sessions. Dates, times and venues are listed in the previous update on this page.

Following the review of our NAP trial assessment decision, we have completed the additional work we committed to, including operational safety assessment, identifying exclusions and exemptions to NAP use and also the criteria to measure success.

After the school holidays we will be hosting a series of community sessions at Dodges Ferry, Dunalley and Primrose Sands. These will be drop-in style sessions where community members can have one-on-one conversations with Airservices staff to further understand the outcomes of this work.

MONDAY 29 APRIL, FROM 4.30PM TO 7.30PM

DODGES FERRY

Okines Community House, 540 Old Forcett Road, Dodges Ferry

TUESDAY 30 APRIL, FROM 4.30PM TO 7.30PM

PRIMROSE SANDS

Primrose Sands Community Centre, 570 Primrose Sands Road, Primrose Sands

WEDNESDAY 1 MAY, FROM 4.30PM TO 7.30PM

DUNALLEY

Dunalley Community Hall, 5 Franklin Street, Dunalley

Anyone who is unable to attend the in-person sessions is welcome to register to attend an online session, which will involve a short presentation followed by questions.

SATURDAY 4 MAY, FROM 3.30PM TO 5.00PM - Click here to register

Information on the outcomes of this additional work will be shared on this page approximately one week prior to the first community information session.

We acknowledge this is in the school holiday period and we do not expect any immediate response from the community.

Our four week engagement period will commence after the completion of the holidays.

In August we published our decision to not proceed with the proposed Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) trial for Runway 30 at Hobart Airport. The Aircraft Noise Ombudsman (ANO) reviewed this decision and has since requested that Airservices Australia reconsider this outcome.

Airservices’ Chief Executive Officer completed a review of the decision, and he has requested that further work be completed to determine if the NAP trial should be implemented.

This work includes:

• additional engagement with community and industry on the operational requirements and exemptions to the NAP, along with the success criteria that would be applied to the NAP trial, should it be implemented

• assessment of the safety and operational factors to be considered should a NAP trial be implemented, including determining if the risks are acceptable following applicable mitigations.

The safety assessment work will be undertaken in parallel to industry engagement. We will then engage with the community on the outcomes.

We anticipate engaging with the Hobart community in early 2024.

Work is currently underway on the recommended actions in Package 2. We expect to commence engagement with the Hobart community on these proposals at the same time as the above.

Assessment of the proposed Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) trial has now been completed and the decision has been made not to proceed with the trial.

Feedback from the community was almost evenly divided between those who supported a trial and those who did not. To further assess the merit of the trial, we undertook a detailed assessment of each option using our Flight Path Design Principles, which having first given regard to safety, require a careful balance of operational efficiency, protecting the environment and minimising the effects of aviation noise on the community.

The outcome of this assessment concluded that implementation of the NAP trial rated slightly higher than to not proceed with the trial. Given diverting all air traffic during the NAP period to the longer approach would result in a considerable amount of additional CO₂ emissions, a higher degree of community benefit and community support for the change is required to justify its implementation.

We understand that this decision will come as a disappointment to some members of the community, however changes to air traffic control operational procedures are complex and require a compelling case to do so.

The details of the Noise Abatement Procedure Trial assessment are available here.

We propose to host community information sessions to discuss the outcomes of the NAP trial assessment. These will take place in the areas of Dodges Ferry, Primrose Sands and Dunalley in the coming weeks. The dates, times and venues for these sessions will be advised on this page and will be advertised locally. You are encouraged to subscribe to receive updates.

Further work is currently being undertaken on recommended actions 4 and 6-10 of the Hobart Airspace Review Post Implementation Review. Updates on this work will be published on this page as the work progresses together with the opportunity to provide feedback.

We have been undertaking a thorough assessment of the proposed Noise Abatement Procedure Trial, giving careful consideration to each of our Flight Path Design Principles. We have completed the assessment and will be releasing a decision shortly.

We understand that the community are keen to see a resolution of this issue and we thank you for your patience.

Thank you for your patience regarding the outcome of the Noise Abatement Procedure trial. We are currently finalising our analysis using our Flight Path Design Principles. Our primary focus is on safety, however we are also considering noise impacts, locations of community facilities and other noise sensitive sites, efficiency, environmental and operational elements. We expect to have a resolution on this issue by 30 June 2023 and will update this page with the outcome. We will be looking to engage with the community on this topic through face to face discussions. Locations and dates will be advised shortly.

Given the even split in community response to this proposal, it is extremely important that Airservices is able to demonstrate a sound assessment process behind any decision we make. As such, this is taking more time than we had anticipated. We recognise the community will want to see the detail of our assessment and are in the process of documenting this so it is clear on what basis we have formed our views.