Noise Action Plan for Brisbane

We are pleased to advise that we have confirmed one final venue for community engagement meetings to discuss Package 3 options, and made more appointments available at two other venues.

Please book your timeslot and location through the Humanitix booking platform (external link). For more information on the appointments, please see our recent post below.

Also now available

On-demand webinar – John from Trax International presents this video guide to the Package 3 options. View online here.

New video information – Watch an overview of Package 3, more detailed videos of each of the preferred options; plus, learn more about Airservices Australia, how we manage Australia’s airspace, and how Brisbane airspace operates. Find the full playlist here.

Quick links

Frequently asked questions

Package 3 fact sheets

Book a meeting with us (19 – 31 July)

Complete the survey (open to 17 August)

We are pleased to provide the preferred options, along with one new night-time option, for Package 3 of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane, which focus on reducing the frequency and concentration of operations over some of the city’s most overflown suburbs.

You can download an overview of all of the options here.

Download information sheets for each option from the documents panel to the right or via the links below:

• Preferred options to the north and west:
  • Departures over land to the north and west
  • Arrivals over land from the north and west
• Preferred options to the south and east:
  • Departures over land to the south and east
  • Arrivals over water from the south and east
• Preferred options to support independent parallel runway operations:
  • Arrivals over land
  • Arrivals over water from the north and west
• New night-time departures over land from the new runway

Other useful information:

The Brisbane Baseline Model which shows the 2019 pre new runway flight paths and the current flight paths, as well as usage, altitude and modelled noise data for each of the flight paths, has been updated with these options so you can compare them to the current operations. We have produced videos explaining the options which you can also view from the baseline model. This tool is best used on a larger laptop or desktop computer rather than a mobile device.

Frequently Asked Questions can be viewed using the tool on the right-hand side of this page (if using a mobile device, please scroll down to FAQs) We will update these as we receive further questions.

A comparison of the concepts engaged on in late 2024 and the preferred options is being prepared to identify the concepts that were progressed and those that were not. This will be available for public review this week. Environmental impact assessments for the preferred options are being prepared and will be released for public review next week.

Have your say

Feedback on these options is open from Saturday 19 July until midnight on 17 August 2025.

All feedback received will be considered in determining which of the options progress and which do not. You can have your say by:

• Completing the survey on any or all options here
• Emailing communityengagement@airservicesaustralia.com
• Writing to Locked Bag 747, Eagle Farm Q 4009

Please note, the Noise Complaint and Information Service (NCIS) is available to respond to complaints and provide information on current operations, but is unable to accept feedback on these options.

We are pleased to announce dates and locations for next phase of engagement for the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane. Detailed information on proposals including maps, videos and information sheets will be released next week. Feedback will be open 19 July to 17 August 2025.

Please find below:

• format of community meetings
• locations and dates
• quick Q&A on meetings for this phase
• more about this phase of engagement.

Format of community meetings

• 20-minute individual appointments with flight path designers
• discuss the options of most interest to you and ask your specific questions
• provide detailed feedback to be directly recorded by our engagement team
• can’t attend in person? We are reserving some appointments at each of these sessions for individual online meetings

Please book your timeslot and location through the Humanitix booking platform. If you’re having problems with booking online, please email us at communityengagement@airservicesaustralia.com

Locations and dates

FAQs for Phase 6 meetings

• How many people can come to my appointment?
  • You can bring up to three other people with you on your ‘ticket’.
• What if I need to change or cancel my booking?
  • You can do this online the same way that you made the booking or email us communityengagement@airservicesaustralia.com
• Do I have to go to the location nearest my home?
  • You can attend any session that is convenient to you, including online if you can’t make it in person.
• What if the meeting time I want is already booked out?
  • If your preferred time and date is booked out, please register for the waitlist for that day and we’ll let you know if a time becomes available (e.g. through a cancellation).
• Do I have to download an app to do an online meeting?
  • You can join the meeting through online using Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome without installing the Teams app. You will need internet access.
• What equipment do I need for an online meeting?
  • A reasonably sized screen will help you see the maps clearly (ie not a phone). It would also be helpful to have a camera and speakers or headset with microphone.
• Why aren’t you doing webinars this time round?
  • We will have a recorded webinar. This will be more convenient because you can watch it at a time and place that suits you, rewinding and skipping to focus on what is of most interest to you. This also enables us to hold more one-on-one sessions to respond to people’s specific needs and interests.

More about this phase of engagement

This phase of engagement is a key step in the flight path change process. In previous phases we have presented initial flight path concepts and options for feedback. We will now be engaging on the preferred flight paths options. These have been developed by specialist flight path and airspace design consultancy, Trax International, in response to community and industry input, and following detailed technical assessments.

In this phase of engagement, we will present specific options for departure and arrival flight paths to provide a holistic change proposal for operations across Greater Brisbane.

Airservices Australia is pleased to announce that community engagement on options to reduce the frequency and concentration of flights over communities will commence on 19 July 2025.

In 2024, we engaged the Brisbane community and the aviation industry on initial flight path concepts. Having considered the significant volume of feedback received and following further technical analysis, we’ve worked with our consultants, Trax International, to develop several preferred flight path options that we believe will reduce the impact of operations on some of Brisbane’s most affected communities.

Dates, venues and online booking details to meet with us in person at one of the many inner city and suburban locations will be released in approximately two weeks’ time.

Planning is continuing for engagement on the Package 3 designs being developed by Trax International, with Trax in the final stage of development. We will provide a further update on the engagement timing once this work is complete.

Over the last quarter of 2024 we:

• implemented changes to over-water departures
• reviewed feedback on our previous round of engagement*
• prepared preferred options for engagement early this year*
• completed assessment reports for Phase 3 and Phase 4 engagement
• evaluated the trial for non-jet departures over land.

* This work is undertaken with the support of our consultants Trax International. Package 4 actions have also been progressed in parallel to other work – due to scope and scale of these actions they will take longer to complete.

Noise Action Plan for Brisbane reports now available

The following documents can all be downloaded as PDFs from the links below or accessed via the document panel to the right-hand side of this page.

Phase 3 Options Assessment Report covers:

• Reduced concentration of daytime flight paths west of the airport
• Night-time arrivals (all locations).

This report is open for feedback until Sunday 23 February 2025.

The Phase 4 Preferred Options Assessment Report covers:

• Alternative over-water departure paths
• Additional segregated modes
• The Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) Plan.

This report is open for feedback until Sunday 23 February 2025.

Please note the initial options engaged on in Phase 4 – Standard instrument departures for Archerfield Airport – are being assessed separately.

The Phase 1 Options Assessment Report, which has been revised in response to community feedback.

Upcoming focus

Over the first quarter in 2025 we will:

• complete designs for preferred options for Package 3 and release these for community feedback
• release evaluation outcomes of the trial for non-jet departures over land
• complete assessment of proposed departures for Archerfield Airport
• continue to progress Package 4 actions.

2018 Environmental Impact Assessments

We have had requests from the community to share the Environmental Impact Assessments completed in 2018 as part of the final flight path design process for the new parallel runway that opened in 2020. Airservices Australia is releasing this documentation in the interest of transparency.

Please note, these are historical documents prepared for internal use in compliance with legislative requirements, rather than for public information. As such, they are quite lengthy and technical in many parts, and they may also contain redactions where identifying information was included.

These can be downloaded from the document panel to the right (or below, on a mobile device), noting some are large files.

Over-water departure paths weather update

The new over-water departure paths from the legacy runway were implemented as planned on 28 November 2024. Initial community feedback was positive with residents reporting improved noise outcomes. However, the weather for many days in December did not enable use of the new departure paths and largely restricted use of SODPROPS.

The impact of weather on air traffic can be hard to see from the ground. For example, in Brisbane in the first week of December last year, the weather appeared to be mostly fine. However, the weather system that had pushed through over the first weekend continued to affect operations early in the week as there were still storm cells evident and more were forecast. This necessitated multiple runway changes for individual aircraft and tactical intervention from Air Traffic Control (that is, the controllers had to direct each aircraft by compass headings, not by issuing the published flight paths). Pilots also requested alternative tracking to remain clear of poor weather.

It’s worth noting that the Bureau of Meteorology radar only shows rainfall, as does the rainfall layer on WebTrak. Pilots and our air traffic controllers look at other aspects of weather, for example, there may be windshear forecast, observed, and acted on. Because adverse weather can be a safety issue for aircraft, our controllers provide alternatives in poor weather conditions.

Keep up to date with SODPROPS usage by reviewing reports on Aircraft in Your Neighbourhood. These reports were developed in 2024 and are being continuously improved and updated. Be sure to select a Brisbane location to find information relevant to Brisbane Airport.

Several community members have recently asked about non-jet aircraft using the shorter, curved approaches (RNP-ARs) to the airport rather than the long, straight-in approach (ILS). First up, a reminder of how these different approaches work:

• an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach can be conducted by all aircraft and is the most common arrival procedure at Brisbane Airport. The ILS flight path is effectively an extension of the runway centreline and requires a straight-in final approach
• a Required Navigation Performance – Authorisation Required (RNP-AR) approach allows a continuous curved path prior to a shorter final approach section aligned with the runway. Using an RNP-AR, aircraft can line up with the runway much closer to the airport.

RNP-AR flight paths are available for each runway at Brisbane Airport. They can be flown by any aircraft equipped with the required technology and where the airline/operator has been authorised by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to conduct RNP-AR operations.

More advanced aircraft, usually jets, are likely to be equipped to use an RNP-AR. Airlines may choose to fit the technology to other aircraft types.

QantasLink has equipped their Dash 8 (non-jet aircraft) to use RNP-AR approaches and has been authorised by CASA to do so. With this authorisation, QantasLink has started using the existing RNP-AR flight paths into Brisbane Airport. There were approximately 60 flights on these paths by QantasLink in October 2024 (including arrivals over Moreton Bay).

What does this have to do with the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane?

In August 2024, Airservices Australia consulted the community on the proposal that certified non-jets could use the RNP-AR approach when arriving via WOODY and MORBI waypoints. If progressed, that proposal would require design of new flight paths to connect into the RNP-AR approach and, as a result, is subject to community engagement. Appropriate use of current RNP-AR approaches from other waypoints is not subject to community engagement because changes to flight paths are not required.

Arrival paths to Brisbane Airport

Overland arrival paths to Brisbane Airport are used when the wind is from the north. You can see these on our interactive maps. Here are the shortcuts to the daytime flight paths and the night-time flight paths.

Further to our notification of 30 October 2024, Airservices is pleased to confirm that the new over-water departure paths from the legacy runway commenced operation on 28 November 2024. This follows two rounds of engagement, in April 2023 and May 2024, with the final designs reflecting feedback received from community and industry stakeholders.

Further information about the new flight paths can be found in our previous post. Below are answers to some common questions we’ve recently received about these changes.

What is SODPROPS?

Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) is the operational mode where both arrivals and departures take place over water at the same time. It is a complex operational mode, available only during periods of low traffic and when specific weather-related operating conditions are met.

You can learn more about these conditions and explore the SODPROPS flight paths here.

Do these new departure paths only apply during SODPROPS?

They apply to both SODPROPS and standard over-water departures at all times of day with the exception of one flight path. The path to the north-east, via waypoint BIXAD, is only changing for SODPROPS mode.

You can see the flight paths for all operating conditions in the maps here.

Why can’t all flights be over Moreton Bay?

We understand that many community members consider that all flights should be over the waters of Moreton Bay. However, it is not possible for all flights to arrive and depart over the water.

Aircraft operate most safely when flying into the wind on both take-off and landing. They can take a small amount of tailwind (wind blowing from behind the aircraft) but this is limited by international safety standards.

Additionally, the small amount of airspace over the waters of Moreton Bay cannot safely cater for the volume of aircraft movements during busier periods.

As a result, aircraft do need to fly over land and communities.

Brisbane Airport’s runways are positioned to enable approximately 50 per cent of all flights to be over water in standard operations. Aircraft arrive over water and depart over land when there is a southerly wind, and arrive over land and depart over water when there is a northerly wind. SODPROPS is used when traffic and weather conditions allow, increasing the percentage of flights going over water.

Why can’t departures continue further over the ocean?

We have received some suggestions that after taking off over the water, departing aircraft should continue to track between Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island and make their way further south or north before crossing land again. This is not currently possible for several reasons:

• the Australian Defence Force has extensive restricted areas off the coast that civil aircraft can’t enter. These prevent the use of airspace further east and also restrict options both north and south of Brisbane.
• longer flight paths increase aircraft track miles and emissions. Any increase in track miles is one of the considerations to be balanced in determining options.
• there are specific points at which aircraft must join the broader network of flight paths (highways in the sky) to travel to their intended destination. These would need to be redesigned to facilitate joining from new points over the ocean. Without these points, it would be similar to a car trying to join a motorway without an on-ramp.

Welcome to the seventh quarterly update on the progress of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane.

During the third quarter of 2024, we delivered our fifth round of engagement, focusing on concepts to reduce the concentration and frequency of overflight on the most affected communities. These concepts were developed by our airspace design consultants, Trax International. We received more than 2000 pieces of feedback – in person, online, by email and letter.

Trax is working through the feedback to support identification of preferred flight path change options. While we were hoping to have preferred options out for community review before the end of the year, the need to give full and proper regard to all submissions means this engagement will now commence in early 2025.

In the meantime, we have reviewed all feedback on Phase 4 proposals and have made some final adjustments to the preferred options for Alternative over-water departures in response to community feedback. Further information on the implementation of these changes will be shared later this week.

We also expanded the priority hours for the use of Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) mode – the mode where both arrivals and departures occur over water – to operate over weekend daytime hours and to commence earlier in the evening, from 9pm, when conditions are suitable.

Upcoming focus

In November, we will implement several changes that will enhance our ability to operate in SODPROPS mode. This includes implementing new flight paths and procedures. We will be releasing more information on these changes to ensure everyone knows what the changes will mean and when they will commence.

Over the next quarter we will release improvements to reporting on the use of SODPROPS mode. We’ve made these changes in response to community feedback, including requests for data on flight numbers as well as hours of operation.

We will also complete our evaluation of the trial we commenced on 13 December 2023 where non-jet departures are turned early from the legacy runway (from 5-6am) to avoid overflight of communities. This evaluation will consider:

• number of departures turned early vs those that were not
• reasons preventing the early turn (to determine if mitigations are possible)
• noise outcomes for locations generally subject to these operations and from noise monitors located near the early turn path
• community and industry feedback.

We are completing assessment reports for Phase 3 and Phase 4 engagement and are aiming to release these before the end of the year.

Trax is continuing work on Package 4, which aims to optimise the performance of the wider Brisbane airspace system. Further information will be shared on the outcomes of this work in 2025.