Aircraft noise is set to reduce for Brisbane communities with upcoming changes to increase the use of Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) at Brisbane Airport from 28 November 2024.
SODPROPS is a runway mode that enables aircraft to arrive and depart Brisbane Airport over Moreton Bay. With these changes, SODPROPS will become the priority operating mode when traffic and weather conditions allow, resulting in increased use on weekends, and on weekday evenings from 9pm.
Airservices Head of Community Engagement, Donna Marshall, said aircraft on the departure flight paths used during SODPROPS will remain over water for longer and will be higher before they cross the coastline, resulting in lower noise levels for communities.
"The flight path changes being delivered are part of the measures outlined in Airservices Noise Action Plan for Brisbane and consistent with the Ministerial Direction issued to Airservices in September. They will support an increase in SODPROPS use from the current 2% of all operations to around 5% in 2025," Ms Marshall said.
This will mean for every flight using this procedure, there will be a reduction of the total population overflown by between 300,000 to 500,000 people compared to standard parallel runway operations.
"The changes are a result of extensive consultation with the people of Brisbane and respond to Redlands community concerns about aircraft noise impacts.
"Under these changes the height of aircraft operations over the Redlands area will increase from 8,000ft to above 12,000ft to reduce the noise impact.
"To facilitate this change, we also need to make some minor adjustments to the arrival flight paths over North Stradbroke Island that are used during SODPROPS.
"While this involves lowering the paths so aircraft remain separated from daytime arrivals to Gold Coast Airport, we do not believe this will be noticeable to communities but a noise monitor will be installed on North Stradbroke Island so we can monitor these operations."
