After years of controversy over Brisbane flight paths, Airservices Australia has released six new potential aircraft routes, as part of its action plan to reduce suburban flight noise.
Noise complaints skyrocketed after the opening of Brisbane Airport's $1.1 billion second runway in 2020, which saw new flights implemented and hundreds of low-flying planes redirected over inner-city and western suburbs.
The proposed new routes focus on reducing the impact of night-time operations, keeping aircraft over water for longer, and having aircraft climb higher prior to crossing the coastline.
They also expand on the use of Simultaneous Opposite Direction Runway Operations (SODPROPS) – where planes simultaneously take off and land in opposite directions – without increasing the impact on communities overflown when aircraft turned back overland.
Airservices Australia will hold 13 community consultation sessions over the next few weeks across the south-east, to allow feedback on the proposed routes.
Airservices Australia chief executive officer Jason Harfield said the proposed flight path changes would be subject to "extensive community engagement" prior to implementation.
"These community engagement sessions will help Airservices identify preferred options for further investigation and potential implementation," Mr Harfield said.
"Airservices wants to ensure it is a transparent process, which demonstrates the organisation's commitment to improving noise outcomes for the Brisbane community, where safe and operationally feasible."
Alternative daytime over water departure path for planes heading south
Currently, when the wind is blowing from the north, aircraft depart off both runways over water. Jet aircraft travelling to the south climb over water to approximately 8,000 feet before turning right to cross the coastline at Wellington Point.
The alternative option takes aircraft further over Moreton Bay enabling them to gain more altitude before crossing the coastline over green space south of Thornlands, almost 5,000 feet higher than the current crossing point. After crossing the coastline, the path tracks north before following the current daytime path to the south, over Logan to waypoint near Jimboomba.
Twenty-three communities including Loganlea, Thornlands and Pinkenba will be impacted.
Alternative night-time overwater departure paths for planes heading south
SODPROPS is the priority operating mode at night, with work now underway to enable daytime use. This mode has both arrival and departure operations over water, with aircraft arriving over Moreton Bay to the new runway (19R) and departing over Moreton Bay from the legacy runway.
Currently, aircraft are travelling to the west over Wellington Point, Manly and suburbs along the coastline to the north of Brisbane Airport. They flight to waypoint WACKO near Laceys Creek, where they join the enroute network.
Option one takes aircraft further over Moreton Bay; option two crosses North Stradbroke Island to travel south-east; option three involves greater use of a current night-time SODPROPS SID (a published route aircraft use to guide them through busy airspace) that travels around the northern end of North Stradbroke Island; option four turns further to the south of the current SID, crossing the coastline south of Redland Bay; and option five travels further south, over rural land.
Communities including Boondall, Jimboomba, Logan, Nudgee and Wynnum will be impacted.
Jet aircraft early-turn opportunities for planes heading south, east and north-east
One opportunity to turn jet aircraft early has been identified, giving consideration to the turning capability of the most common domestic jet aircraft. Aircraft would depart aligned with the runway to the Gateway Bridge before turning left and tracking over the Lytton industrial area, crossing the coastline at Wynnum.
Communities including Eagle Farm, Manly and Wynnum will be impacted.
Replacing new runway departures with pre-existing legacy runway departures for planes heading west
Currently, when the wind is blowing from the north, aircraft depart off both runways over water. Departing aircraft travelling to destinations to the north and west use the new runway.
The alternative option would see aircraft climb to above 5,000 feet over Moreton Bay while making a right turn to cross the coast at Lytton, then tracking over Brisbane Airport. Aircraft continue over Nudgee and Banyo at 16,270 feet, climbing to above 16,900 feet by the time they cross over Boondall.
Communities including Boondall, Wellington Point and Petrie would be impacted.
Changes to turboprop plane overland departures between 5am and 6am for planes heading north
Currently, between 5am and 6am, the Brisbane Airport Noise Abatement Procedures (NAPs) permit turboprop (propeller-driven) aircraft to depart over land from the new runway.
Alternative option for the new runway: Use of the new runway for turboprop aircraft movements between 5am and 6am when SODPROPS mode is in operation will be removed, eliminating the impact of turboprop operations between these hours.
Alternative option for the legacy runway: To reduce overflight of communities by turboprop aircraft departing from the legacy runway between 5am and 6am, flights would turn immediately left once they have reached 600 feet and have cleared the runway end, to cross back over Brisbane Airport and the Lytton industrial area, and then climb over Moreton Bay.
Night-time overland departure opportunities for planes heading north
Currently, simultaneous SODPROPS is the priority operating mode at night. This mode has both arrival and departure operations over water, with aircraft arriving over Moreton Bay to the new runway and departing over Moreton Bay from the legacy runway.
When SODPROPS cannot be operated at night due to weather conditions including high winds and/or rain, operations over land may be necessary.
Airservices Australia is investigating options to reduce the impact of these night-time departures on communities. It wants to hear possible ideas and solutions from the community that might be acceptable, given any change to the location of the current flight path would potentially shift noise to new communities.
Professor Marcus Foth from the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance (BFPCA) said he was concerned many communities will not benefit at all from the proposed new routes.
"We welcome the proposal to try and implement changes to the flight paths but we are concerned about the actual timeline to implementing some of those changes, as well as the scope of those changes," Professor Foth said.
"The main focus of these changes are for the Redland Bay area and the Redcliffe Peninsula.
"It's a much-wider spread problem and there's nothing at the moment for areas like Samford Valley, Upper Brookfield, inner-city [Brisbane], New Farm, Hamilton and so forth," he said.
Professor Foth said he wanted a curfew and flight caps introduced.
The federal government recently announced the creation of the Brisbane Airport Community Airspace Advisory Board – a permanent and independent forum where Brisbane residents can provide feedback on aircraft noise.
