Sydney Airport: Let quieter aircraft break curfew

Sydney Airport is calling for an overhaul of the rules governing cargo flights during the airport’s curfew.

Sydney Airport wants ‘newer and quieter’ aricraft to use its runways at night.

Sydney Airport is calling for an overhaul of the rules governing cargo flights during the curfew, saying that otherwise older and noisier aircraft will be used to haul freight overnight.

In a move that will reignite debate over the tough curfew laws on Sydney’s international airport, Sydney Airport says the rules should be updated so that all types of cargo aircraft below a noise threshold would be able to operate during the 11pm to 6am curfew.

Under existing rules, only the BAe-146 freight aircraft can land at the airport during curfew.

But Sydney Airport says because the rules single out a certain type of aircraft, instead of imposing a noise standard, “newer and quieter aircraft are unable to operate during the curfew, while older and noisier aircraft continue to operate”.

Virgin Australia’s cargo arm has backed the call, saying the regulations for overnight dedicated freighter operations at Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith Airport are “significantly more restrictive and complex” compared to those at Adelaide and Gold Coast airports.

In a submission to the government’s inquiry into national freight and supply chain priorities, Virgin says the rules should instead be based on the maximum noise levels for dedicated freighters contained in the Chicago Convention.

“As well as providing airfreight operators with increased flexibility, this proposal has the potential to reduce the night time noise exposure for communities surrounding Sydney Airport, as there are other types of dedicated freighter aircraft in operation with lower noise profiles than the BAe-146 aircraft,” Virgin says in its submission.

“It would also be consistent with the legislative frameworks in place for Adelaide and Gold Coast airports, which do not specify the type of dedicated freighter aircraft that may be used during curfew.”

The British Aerospace 146 is the only freighter that can land during the curfew. Until 1996, DC9 freighters were also allowed.

Industry sources estimated there were only 28 of the BAe-146 freighter aircraft globally that could operate in line with the rules, but some of these might not be of a standard that would allow them to be registered in Australia.

The rules, contained in the Sydney Airport Curfew Act 1995, require that aircraft operate over Botany Bay during the curfew.

“The prescription of specific aircraft types has also created an inefficiency in the domestic airfreight network, where (for example) a Boeing 737 is able to operate overnight freight flights to other airports such as Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra, but not to Sydney,” Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather says in a new submission to the inquiry.

“This means that an entire payload would have to be unloaded and reloaded on to a different aircraft to reach Sydney on an overnight flight, using a smaller and less efficient aircraft.”

Basing the regulations on a noise standard “would improve the efficiency of the overnight airfreight network around Australia, benefiting airline operators and their customers, while also achieving positive outcomes for the community near to the airport.”

Otherwise, the list of aircraft types should be updated.

Key carriers have been given approval to operate a limited number of cargo flights during the curfew each week at Sydney. Qantas Airways has a quota of 27 a week, Virgin Australia has 18, Toll Transport has one and Cobham Aviation Services has 28.

It is understood Qantas also has a view that changes to the rules to allow freighters that complied with noise requirements of the Chicago Convention would help meet the needs of industry. The Qantas-operated B737 freighter aircraft had noise modifications completed by July last year to comply with the requirements.

Under rules that Labor transport minister Laurie Brereton introduced via the Sydney Airport curfew laws in 1995, the approvals for freight aircraft movements will end when Badgerys Creek can take aircraft at night.

Sydney, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and Essendon have curfews; Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are curfew-free.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester said the submissions would be considered as part of the inquiry. A draft report is due by December.

“The ability to utilise new and improved aircraft has the potential to reduce noise at airports around Australia and will be considered as part of the review,” he said.

The existing rules also restrict most commercial aircraft carrying passengers from operating during the curfew at Sydney, though a small number of “shoulder” flights are allowed between 5am and 6am and 11pm and midnight. But in recent years there have been calls for a reduction of the curfew to cater for newer, quieter aircraft.

The Tourism & Transport Forum has recently argued for a relaxation on the curfew by increasing shoulder period operations for international flights.