Reducing the impact of aircraft noise on Brisbane suburbs and boosting flights over Moreton Bay were key considerations of an independent review into the city's flight paths, with the final report released today.
Trax International's independent review, which was commissioned by Airservices Australia between February and July this year, made 49 recommendations to improve flight paths at the Brisbane Airport, after a new parallel runway was introduced in July 2020.
A number of communities in Brisbane complained of increased noise, including Bulimba, New Farm, Brookfield, and the Samford Valley.
A key recommendation of the wide-ranging report was to reduce the frequency and concentration of flights over the city and outer suburbs by introducing alternate travel routes between 2023 and 2024.
It suggested optimising the wider Brisbane airspace and increasing the number of flights that can travel over bayside waters, while also improving communication about the implication of these changes.
Airservices Chief Executive Officer Jason Harfield said the government-owned corporation would further consult local communities and industry over the coming months, as it explores other flight paths.
"Airservices is committed to considering all opportunities for improved noise outcomes for the Brisbane community and to progressing those options assessed as safe and feasible," he said.
Mr Harfield said Airservices would release its official response to the Trax Final Report before it met with communities in September.
Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff welcomed the release of the report and said his company would work with Airservices to implement the recommendations.
"One of the ways to reduce aircraft noise for residents who live under the flight paths is to increase the number of flights that arrive and depart over Moreton Bay, with [the airport] eager to see this increased," he said.
Acting Chair of the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance, Marcus Foth, said the recommendations did not go far enough because the review focuses on technical aspects, like flight paths, and does not consider other non-technical options.
"Some of [the options] that our organisation has been advocating for includes a curfew, it also includes an airport capacity declaration, aircraft noise levies, and to amend the Airservices Act to strengthen the regulatory oversight over these processes," he said.
"Those are all political instruments that are readily available to the government, but they are not part of this Trax report."
Dr Foth said although the three-year timeline for implementing the recommended changes will give organisations enough lead time, Brisbane residents will be forced to wait until 2025 for results.
"That's going to be five years since the Brisbane flight path design has changed as a result of the launch of the new runway [in 2020], so communities are suffering, and I don't think that it's going to be palatable to them that there's going to be another three-year wait ahead of them," he said.
"Airservices Australia is suggesting nothing much is going to happen in 2022 other than further engagements with the community — we are of the opinion that we've been engaged enough, the issues are on the table, people are suffering, and there's urgent action needed to rectify these issues."
Dr Foth said the community alliance was especially concerned about the mental health impact of aircraft noise, with some residents having been referred to suicide counselling.
"Some people are so distressed that they're sending messages where we believe we need to intervene," he said.
John Juratowitch, who lives in Brisbane's northern suburb of New Farm, said he frequently wakes up at 4am because of "incredibly loud" aircraft flying over his neighbourhood.
"Every six minutes, they're like dogs sniffing one another's tail – one after the other," he said.
Call for flight curfew
Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather said he would also like to see a 10pm to 6am curfew introduced at Brisbane Airport to reduce flight noise.
"[The report] remains severely limited in its scope. It still doesn't address the curfew, cap on flights, and long-term operating plan that Brisbane Airport needs," he said.
Brisbane MP Stephen Bates said similar regulations should be applied to Brisbane Airport as those implemented at the Sydney Airport, including a cap of 45 flights per hour.
"Our communities in the northside have been victimised by the Brisbane Airport Corporation and have been receiving unfair treatment for years now," he said.
"What we really need to focus on moving forward is reminding government that community is not going away … the only reason they did this Trax report is because of the enormous pressure from the community.
"The people of Brisbane only want to be treated the same way as the people of Sydney are … we are only asking for the same standard to be applied universally and I don't think that's too much to ask."
Mr Chandler-Mather said the 45 flights per hour flight cap would ensure the Brisbane Airport did not grow unsustainably beyond that level.
"It would allow us to return to pre-pandemic capacity and a little bit of growth," he said.
"If you introduce a curfew without a cap there's an incentive for the airport to squeeze more flights within the curfew time, so it acts as a safety mechanism."
'Unintended consequences'
The Brisbane Airport Corporation's head of public affairs, Stephen Beckett, said all options were considered and "the best expert advice" was to redirect flights over water.
"There's a number of unintended consequences with a curfew and part of that is aircraft will come in thicker and faster, and the noise will be more concentrated in the lead up to a curfew," he said.
"Also, Queenslanders will have many fewer options to move around their own state, overseas, or throughout the rest of Australia, so we think that Trax, [in] the independent report, got the balance right."
Mr Beckett said the Brisbane Airport has a larger "buffer zone" than the Sydney and Melbourne airports because it was designed to be an internationally capable airport that operates around the clock.
"That's why we're on such a large land mass and the buffer between us and the community are so vast," he said.
