A Sunshine Coast resident has questioned when the same noise reduction directive given for Brisbane Airport operations will be applied to Sunshine Coast Airport.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King directed Airservices Australia to prioritise flights over water by November 30 to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on residents.
Ash Ranu, of Mount Coolum, said aircraft noise would become more of a problem on the Sunshine Coast as the airport and the population grew.
“How the Sunshine Coast has grown in the last five years, and how it’s going to grow over the next decade, and the airport will get busier – aircraft noise is going to become more and more of an issue,” Mr Ranu said.
“In Brisbane, Catherine King has directed the airport to change the operating procedures to prioritise the flights over the water.”
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Mr Ranu said the same directive to Airservices Australia should be applied at Sunshine Coast Airport as Brisbane Airport.
“It’s the same distance from the water, the same conditions,” he said.
“If they can do that down there, why can’t they do that here?”
Ms King’s office stepped around the question in a written response.
“We know that managing the noise impacts of aircraft operations is important for local communities,” a spokeswoman for the minister said.
“That is why the government is implementing a range of new initiatives outlined in the Aviation White Paper to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on Australian communities.”
The spokeswoman went on to say this included establishing an independent Aircraft Noise Ombuds Scheme, producing new guidance to pilots on flying considerately to minimise the impact of noise on residential communities, improving engagement with communities affected by changes to airspace and flight paths, and improving transparency about aircraft noise impacts.
Mr Ranu has noticed an increase in flight noise over Mount Coolum this year but Airservices Australia says there has been no changes in flight paths.
The proportion of over-land take-offs varied between 7 per cent and 49 per cent during the six-month period from May to October.
An Airservices Australia spokesperson said flight directions were usually governed by the wind direction at Sunshine Coast Airport.
“When there are easterly or southerly winds, aircraft will arrive to the runway over land and depart towards the ocean,” he said.
“When the wind is from a westerly or northerly direction, the runway will be used in the opposite direction, with arrivals over the ocean and departures over land.
“When the wind is calm, there is a Noise Abatement Procedure that identifies departures toward the ocean as the preferred operation.”
A comparison of wind direction and flight directions over a six-month period this year appeared to generally support the spokesperson’s statement.
