Package 3 engagement

Airservices Australia is pleased to release concepts for flight path changes that have been developed by Trax International for further engagement as part of Package 3 of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane. These are concepts for reducing frequency and concentration of aircraft over some communities that experience the highest volumes of air traffic.

Package 3 concepts are essentially about sharing aircraft noise. We have received feedback from community members across the wider Brisbane area and while some community members agree that noise sharing is a fair solution to managing aircraft noise, we have also heard that noise-sharing is not the preferred option for many residents. However, investigating options to share noise is a key deliverable of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane to reduce the impacts of aircraft noise for thousands of residents, within the constraints of Brisbane’s current airspace design.

Trax have produced five sets of concepts for flight path changes. We invite you to review them and let us know your thoughts on their potential effectiveness, and what local factors we should also consider when developing detailed flight paths based on these concepts.

For those of you who have engaged with us over previous phases, you will notice some changes. This is the first phase of engagement led by Trax, and the first time we’ve addressed Package 3 as a whole.

Trax have provided initial concepts rather than specific flight path options and we’re seeking feedback at that conceptual level. As such, we have not produced detailed information of population overflown or modelled altitudes and noise contours. We have also not produced the scalable maps that we have provided in previous phases of engagement; again, because we would like the conversation to be about the concepts. Some of you will have seen the ‘heat map’ from Trax that shows where the greatest frequency and concentration of air traffic is. We are working to produce that as a scalable map so that community members can search for their location.

Airservices Australia is committed to reducing the impact of aircraft noise over Brisbane communities. We acknowledge the feedback we have received in previous phases of engagement, in some cases calling for actions that are outside the scope of our role.

We understand that many community members consider that all flights should be over the waters of Moreton Bay. However, it is not physically possible for all flights to arrive and depart over the water. Aircraft must take off and land into the wind; this means that approximately half of all flights will be over the water while the other half will be over land. As such, we cannot remove all aircraft operations from all communities.

Feedback closes on Sunday 15 September 2024.

Package 3 materials

Visit the Brisbane Baseline Model to review operational information from 2019 (before the new runway), 2022 and 2023 (the two most recent full years of data)

Package 3 Overview

This summary document outlines the focus for Package 3, definitions of frequently used terms, and how to submit feedback.

Download information sheet – Provide feedback

Set 1: Departures over land to the west and northwest from the new runway (and the legacy runway at night)

Purpose: To reduce the frequency and concentration of departing flights over communities aligned with the new runway, and under these departure paths in Brisbane’s inner west and outer north-west (including suburbs within Moreton Bay City Council)

Download information sheet – Provide feedback

Set 2: Arrivals over land from the north and west via the new runway

Purpose: To reduce the frequency and concentration of arriving flights over communities in Brisbane’s outer north-west (including suburbs within Moreton Bay City Council)

Download information sheet – Provide feedback

Set 3: Departures over land to the south and east from the legacy runway

Purpose: To reduce the frequency and concentration of departing flights over communities in Brisbane’s south-east (including suburbs within Redland City Council and Logan City Council)

Download information sheet – Provide feedback

Set 4: Independent Parallel Runway Operations

Purpose: To facilitate the introduction of simultaneous arrivals using both runways (including suburbs within Brisbane City Council, Logan City Council and Moreton Bay City Council).

Download information sheet – Provide feedback

Set 5: Non-jet (turboprop) arrivals from the north

Purpose: To reduce the frequency and concentration of non-jet flights over communities in Brisbane’s north-east (including suburbs within Moreton Bay City Council)

Download information sheet – Provide feedback