Flight paths for Sydney’s new airport reveal the suburbs facing highest noise levels

Flight paths for Sydney’s new international airport show homes to its south-west and north will be disrupted the most by noise from large passenger planes when it opens in late 2026.

The preliminary flight paths, released on Tuesday, reveal homes near Greendale, Luddenham and Twin Creeks will be hit the hardest by noise from the curfew-free Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek, about 45 kilometres from the Sydney CBD.

The 3.7-kilometre runway will be long enough to handle aircraft as large as the A380 superjumbo.Credit: Brook Mitchell

The federal government released an online tool on Tuesday that allows residents to plug in their addresses to see how their homes will be disrupted by noise from aircraft flying to and from the $5.3 billion airport.

Modelling shows properties near Erskine Park will be among areas where aircraft noise is set to reach 70 decibels by 2033 under different scenarios. Outdoor sound levels of 70 decibels can lead to indoor noise of about 60 decibels, which is enough to disturb a normal conversation.

Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the online tool would allow people to search an address to get a clear picture of the impact of the preliminary flight paths, including the daily aircraft numbers.

“The Albanese government is committed to balancing the needs of the community, environment, industry and users of the broader greater Sydney airspace, while maintaining safety as a priority, in the design of [the airport’s] flight paths,” she said.

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill, who has campaigned against the airport, said he was concerned the flight paths would compromise the values that underpinned the area’s world-heritage listing.

“You can’t have an airport of this size next to a world heritage area and not affect it, and that is what has come to pass,” he said.

“In the flat lands, you have a very different sound effect than you do with planes coming in over the valleys, ravines and cliffs of the Blue Mountains. The case for the Blue Mountains is different to everywhere else.”

Greenhill said the council would campaign hard for “flight path justice” for the Blue Mountains, and he expected other mayors to raise similar concerns.

Some flight paths show planes taking off to Brisbane or Cairns will fly north of the Blue Mountains’ main residential areas dotted along the Great Western Highway. Those bound for Queensland that take off to the south-west of the airport will make a right turn around Silverdale before flying north over the Blue Mountains.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said many people had bought and sold homes knowing the airport would be built, and no one should be shocked by the flight paths.

“Governments have spent decades planning the site and trying to reduce the worst impacts that you see in other places,” he said.

When it opens in late 2026, the airport will have five operating modes for aircraft landing and taking off, which will depend on prevailing weather conditions, such as crosswinds or tailwinds.

Under a mode referred to as “runway 05”, aircraft will land from the south-west of the airport and take off to the north-east. It will be the opposite for the other main mode – “runway 23” – whereby aircraft will land from the north-east and take off to the south-west.

Between 11pm and 5.30am, aircraft will mostly land from the south-west and take off towards the south-west if wind conditions are calm to reduce noise in the most heavily populated areas of western Sydney.

By 2033, the airport is expected to handle 10 million passengers and about 81,000 aircraft movements each year. The sound of a single-aisle Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 aircraft at 3000 feet is about 70 decibels, which is the equivalent of the sound of a washing machine. At 1000 feet, those aircraft would reach 90 decibels, which is like the sound of a food blender.

A single merge point over any residential area for aircraft readying to land at the curfew-free airport was ruled out more than six years ago.

However, an aviation consultant told a meeting in March that the need for aircraft to line up with the runway before landing means they will effectively merge on final approach.

The new airport’s flight paths will be outlined in greater detail in a draft environmental assessment, which the federal government will release later this year.

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