Western Sydney International Airport’s proposed flight paths changed
Flights into Western Sydney’s new international airport have been deliberately directed away from Labor electorates — with stronghold Liberal seats now bearing the brunt.
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Flights into the new Western Sydney International Airport have been deliberately directed away from Labor electorates – with stronghold Liberal seats now bearing the brunt – in changes to planned flight paths.
Analysis of changes to proposed flight paths for the airport shows residents across the Lower Blue Mountains were initially in the firing line of hundreds of flights a day as early as 2015, before a series of changes to the routes were made amid public outcry.
In 2019 and 2020, the planned routes changed again, meaning almost every suburb in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury electorate of Macquarie would have been impacted by arriving flights.
This prompted fresh campaigns — supported by Macquarie’s Labor MP Susan Templeman — to change the routes again.
Now, the latest flight path plans show arrivals have been diverted across Western Sydney, while departures now avoid residential areas across the Lower Blue Mountains.
Federal Opposition Western Sydney spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh told The Daily Telegraph the flight paths had been redirected away from the Labor electorate of Macquarie to instead impact her Liberal electorate of Lindsay, which spans Penrith to Luddenham.
Despite a lengthy environmental impact process, Ms McIntosh said the deliberations had been “secretive” and flight paths had now been “dumped” on her electorate.
“This is not good enough and Western Sydney communities deserve better,” she said.
Federal Opposition Western Sydney spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh told The Daily Telegraph the flight paths had been redirected away from the Labor electorate of Macquarie to instead impact her Liberal electorate of Lindsay, which spans Penrith to Luddenham.
Despite a lengthy environmental impact process, Ms McIntosh said the deliberations had been “secretive” and flight paths had now been “dumped” on her electorate.
“This is not good enough and Western Sydney communities deserve better,” she said.
However, federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the flight paths had been subject to the 12 Airspace Design Principles set out in the Western Sydney International (WSI) airport’s plan and the final environment impact statement on flight paths was still under consideration.
“Ms McIntosh should be ashamed of herself for politicising the determination of flight paths, which is an extremely complex and technical process,” Ms King said.
“The community has been front of mind when determining the flight paths.
“Perhaps Ms McIntosh should come clean about what changes she is planning to make to the flights paths if the Coalition is elected.”
Noise from those aircraft will be in addition to airlines flying into Sydney before its 6am curfew, which could be redirected to the new airport at Badgerys Creek when it opens next year.
Wayne Willmington, president of the Luddenham Progress Association, said local residents were unhappy about the prospect of extra noise from cargo planes that will be redirected from Mascot to WSI.
“The people of Western Sydney are unhappy with these 5000 flights a year that currently fly over water to land at Sydney airport being redirected over houses to land at Western Sydney International,” he said.
The row over flight paths comes as business leaders call for regulatory red tape that has grounded attempts to land international airlines to be overhauled to get more planes into the 24/7 airport.
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chief executive Adam Leto said the airport’s designation as a primary gateway limits foreign airlines such as Qatar Airways from jetting into WSI.
“At the moment, we’ve got regulations in place that are limiting the ability to negotiate with Airlines that I’m sure would love to have better access to the city’s only 24-hour international airport,” he said.
Once an airline has reached its cap limit it cannot send in more flights. Mr Leto said changing WSI’s status to secondary airport status like Darwin or Adelaide would remove the caps.
“We want to see Western Sydney International soar from the get-go and to be able to roll out the welcome mat to all international airlines that want to fly in and out of the region,” he said.
“In addition to the economic value this will bring to the region, it should also lead to cheaper flights for the punters — it’s a win-win.”
Qantas has already signed on to base 15 domestic aircraft at the airport but has not signed up for international flights.
It has pledged to keep planes that could be affected by a tightening of the Sydney Airport curfew once WSI opens, such as QF2 from London, landing at Kingsford Smith in Mascot.
“Maintaining early arrivals at Sydney Airport are important for our customers and connecting them on our regional and domestic network.
“Western Sydney is going to make air travel even more accessible for the two million people that live near there and we look forward to operating from day one,” he said.
This article is part of the Future Western Sydney series, which is proudly supported by Clubs NSW, Powerhouse, Transurban, Walker Corp, Western Sydney International Airport and Western Sydney University
Read related topics:Future Western Sydney
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