Introduction to next phase of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane

Trax International is an international airspace design and traffic management consultancy contracted by Airservices Australia to provide the additional capacity and independent expertise required to deliver Packages 3 and 4 of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane.

Trax will be leading this work across 2024 and 2025.

Package 3 targets options for noise sharing. For example, reducing the frequency and concentration of aircraft flying over areas that are routinely affected by both arrivals and departures. The design options developed for engagement in Package 3 concentrate on smaller modifications to flight paths that can be implemented as part of the existing Brisbane airspace design. This work will incorporate changes that have been part of Airservices' previous phases of engagement.

Package 4 considers larger flight path changes beyond the constraints of the existing Brisbane airspace design. For example, Package 4 will include engagement on options for the use of different runway modes that may offer opportunities for noise relief and options for respite routes that could be used to alternate when flight paths are used.

Next phase of engagement

The first round of community engagement for Package 3 will run from 19 August to 15 September 2024, and will present a comprehensive list of the flight path design options we have developed for Package 3. We will seek community feedback on the local circumstances that should be considered when refining the long list of options into preferred designs.

A second round of engagement will occur from mid-November to early December 2024 to gather feedback on the preferred options that are identified and progressed from the first round of Trax engagement.

Airservices will continue to work on progressing outcomes from Package 2 at the same time.

July 2024 webinar

Prior to the first round of Package 3 engagement the Trax team will conduct a general introductory webinar to cover:

• the approach Trax is following to develop, assess and engage on the flight path design options, recognising the interdependencies between many of the individual Noise Action Plan for Brisbane deliverables
• the process and timelines for community engagement for Packages 3 and 4, which are planned for August to September 2024, November to December 2024, March to April 2025 and June to July 2025.

The webinar will be held on three different dates in July and information will be available on Engage Airservices for those who can’t attend a session. Log-in details for these sessions will be emailed to registered participants within 24 hours of each webinar. Please register here to join.

Improved reporting update - WebTrak

We are pleased to announce further improvements to WebTrak, our public aircraft tracking and noise reporting tool.

During Phase 2, we engaged community on increasing our operational reporting to improve the transparency and quality of information that we provide.

WebTrak originally had a 40-minute delay in providing aircraft movement and noise information. This was the time required for data captured at noise monitoring terminals to upload to the system. In 2023, Airservices Australia worked with our supplier to reduce the time delay to 15 minutes. Through our continued efforts, we have now achieved a 3-minute delay on Brisbane’s WebTrak site.

A rainfall layer has also been added to the Brisbane WebTrak site. The layer helps provide visibility to the community of weather conditions that may change operations in the Brisbane airspace.

To enable the rainfall layer in WebTrak, click on ‘Display’ on the left-hand side of the screen, then check the box for the layer to turn on.

Airservices will continue to introduce further improvements to reporting.

Access WebTrak here.