One flight every two minutes: Brisbane airport to rival Singapore

Brisbane is set to outstrip Sydney as Australia’s busiest airport, but officials say claims of 110 plane movements an hour are misleading and ‘won’t happen in our lifetimes’.

Brisbane is set to outstrip Sydney as Australia’s busiest airport and be on par with Hong Kong and Singapore, an analysis by a residents’ lobby group shows.

It has calculated up to 110 flights an hour over the worst-affected suburbs could become the norm if Brisbane Airport Corporation’s ambitions come to fruition.

Split over the two runways, which can take planes from both directions, that meant one plane movement as often as once every two to three minutes over the worst-affected suburbs, a noise lobby has calculated.

On average across the city that is one every 30 seconds, although for safety reasons planes on the same flight path must be separated by at least a few minutes.

But the corporation hit back at Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance, accusing it of misleading the community by “selecting facts out of context to build a narrative of their own choosing’’.

“The forecast 50 million passengers by 2035 is incorrect and does not equate to 110 movements an hour, every hour,’’ a spokeswoman said.

The futuristic dome at Singapore's Changi Airport.

“For some time, BAC has communicated that the 50 million passengers milestone will not be achieved until the early 2040s.

“Again, even when this number is achieved, this does not mean that Brisbane Airport will be operating with 110 aircraft movements an hour, every hour.

“The communicated 110 aircraft movements an hour is the ultimate capacity of the parallel runway system at Brisbane Airport.

“It is not indicative of the projected or expected use of the runways each hour, every hour, for 24 hours a day.

“Hourly movements are dictated by passenger demand, and the SEQ population is unlikely, in any of our lifetimes, to reach the levels that would require that many movements every hour.’’

BFPCA chair, David Diamond, said BAC had been underestimating air traffic for a long time.

Shipping clerk Fil Mangano at the Amazon distribution warehouse in Lytton.

While it would be difficult for BAC to achieve its own target of 50 million passengers, Mr Diamond said it was clear the corporation was targeting airfreight in the shorter term.

His concern was that freight and cargo flights were often at night.

He also said Brisbane had no curfew, unlike Sydney or Melbourne, and no limit on maximum flight numbers. Sydney, for example, has a movement cap of 80 flights per hour.

“They are relying on cargo and freight investments co-located adjacent near the airport such as TradeCoast Central, the Port of Brisbane, the Queensland Government-supported Amazon Warehouse, the BAC Export Park, and the inland rail connection to and from Melbourne,’’ he said.

The BAC spokeswoman said a cap on aircraft movements or a curfew would cost jobs, damage the economy, limit the places Queenslanders could easily travel to, and have the consequence of intensifying noise impacts in sensitive hours.

“The Federal Government undertook a review of Brisbane Airport’s 24-hour status in 2014,’’ he said.

“A decision was made not to place a curfew on Brisbane Airport, due in part to the large non-residential buffer compared to other capital cities and the effective use of noise abatement procedures.

David Diamond, Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance chair, says his group has calculated up to one plane every two minutes could be overflying the city. Picture: Annette Dew

“This decision stands today, and any further review of the current operating parameters will be at the discretion of the Federal Government.’’

But Mr Diamond said BAC’s “blueprint vision’’, called the Aerotropolis, was set to transform the city into an area centred on an airport.

“Brisbane as an Aerotropolis is a city dominated by constant excessive noise pollution everywhere,’’ Mr Diamond said.

“It will render an outdoor lifestyle impossible. You cannot soundproof New Farm Park.

“The frequency of aircraft movements at Brisbane Airport will more than double once we get back to pre-Covid levels – and that was based on the available capacity with just one runway.

“Now, they have two and no restrictions whatsoever.

“During the community consultation and in the lead-up to the opening of the second runway, BAC’s CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff proudly said the new runway would enable a net decrease of aircraft flying over the city.

“Yet, their own statistics tell a totally different tale.”

The forecasting is based on data published by the Australian Government’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) and shows monthly aircraft movements from 2009 to 2021.

BFPCA calculated the six month average of Brisbane aircraft movements, pre-Covid, in 2019.

Whereas Sydney is capped at 27,505 flights a month, Brisbane can now service more than 37,000 flights a month.

“There were 7352 total movements at Brisbane Airport in February, 2021,’’ Mr Diamond said.

“The pre-Covid six month average was 16,701. Going back to the old demand would represent a 227 per cent increase compared to the noise impact communities are experiencing now.

“But it get’s worse. If we now use BAC’s own, widely boasted capacity rate target of 110 flights an hour, that would be a growth rate of 514 per cent by 2035 according to the airport’s own projections.

“So, five times what people are experiencing now.”

“Take New Farm as an example. There are 2,260 flights a month now.

“This will go back up to 5,134 a month (171 a day, 11 an hour) if Brisbane Airport gets back to pre-Covid levels based on just one runway.

“This can now increase further to 11,626 a month.’’

BAC PUTS ITS CASE

Well before opening, BAC initiated a noise abatement procedure for the new runway which prohibits flights from that runway over the city between 10pm and 6am.

This abatement is a better outcome for the community under the new runway flight paths when compared to Sydney’s curfew of 11pm to 6am.

The only exceptions to this are when essential works are necessary on the legacy runway and or emergencies.

For context regarding buffer zones, Brisbane Airport has the largest noise buffer zone of any major airport in Australia.

Drawing a straight line from the end of the legacy runway, the nearest residence is 6.7km away.

Using the same straight-line approach, the distance from the end of the new runway to the nearest residence is 6km.

In comparison, the buffer zone for Sydney Airport is 600m, as is Coolangatta, Cairns and Adelaide. Melbourne has a buffer of 3.5km and Perth 3.1km.

The statement made by BAC’s CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff during the runway’s construction is correct, despite numerous claims by BFPCA that it is not.

In 2019 (prior to the new runway opening), on average 58 per cent of overnight (10pm–6am) aircraft movements operated over the bay and 48 per cent of all aircraft movements (24 hours) operated over the Bay.

In 2021, with the new runway operational, an average of 73 per cent of overnight (10pm–6am) aircraft movements have operated over the bay and 52.5 per cent of all aircraft movements (24 hours) operated over the bay.

This is a clear increase in over-the-bay operations since the new runway opened.

In response to BFPCA’s concerns regarding freight operations at Brisbane Airport, BNE has only four per cent of Australia’s cargo volume.

Wanting to grow that rate is a good thing for Queensland and BAC does not resile from working with exporters and importers to get more freight capacity into and out of BNE.

Direct access to international and domestic markets is crucial for local exporters, particularly for time-sensitive freight like seafood, meat and dairy, and the Queensland and Australian economies.

Freight is so important that some freight flights are exempt from the Sydney Airport curfew.

BAC built the new runway in response to significant public outcry and ongoing issues with on-time performance due to delays.

Building the airport’s capacity is the reason for building a new runway – to grow southeast Queensland and provide Brisbane residents with domestic and international access and to avoid the high cost to people and businesses that come from ground holding and circling in the air because of capacity constraints.

Caps and curfews simply bake those constraints and costs in.

Brisbane Airport Corporation encourages those who are concerned about aircraft noise, and anyone in the community who is interested in how Brisbane Airport works for them, to participate the Post Implementation Review (PIR) recently announced by Airservices Australia.

Through the PIR, options to achieve some improvements and noise relief will be investigated and considered.