Airservices Australia rejigs Hobart Airport flight paths again

HOBART Airport is facing its third flight route change in a little over a year as Airservices Australia unveils another shake up of flight paths.

SUNTAS: Generic shots of planes taking off or coming into land, at Hobart Airport. a Jetstar plane landing

INCOMING jets from the nation’s East Coast cities would fly east of Maria Island under a drastic shake up of flight paths proposed by Airservices Australia.

The planned changes would reduce air traffic approaching Hobart Airport over land by up to 30 per cent, the company said.

The new paths, released for community consultation and feedback today, would see planes arriving from East Coast destinations fly south of Dunalley.

Flights from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth would travel over land between Dunalley and Connellys Marsh before turning west to head for the runway.

Airservices executive general manager of air navigation services Stephen Angus.

Airservices executive general manager of air navigation services Stephen Angus told the Mercury the proposed designs would segregate the traffic and create a “net benefit” for stakeholders.

“Stakeholders have got different needs and objectives, that means this idea of net benefit across the whole environment is what we are trying to achieve and some people are going to not necessarily be fully satisfied,” he said.

“The proposed flight path design reflects the feedback from all of the stakeholders.

“We’re putting a lot of information out to the community … so at least they can understand the thinking of the design work and why.

“Because there are more flight paths proposed in this design it means there is an opportunity to minimise the impact on specific communities.”

A map showing the proposed new flight routes into Hobart Airport.

The most recent flight path changes were only implemented in September last year.

It resulted in up to 30 planes a day flying above Boomer Bay and Dunalley and community protests forced Airservices into a rethink of the designs.

Residents appealed to former Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester and made a complaint to the Federal Aircraft Noise Ombudsman, while federal Lyons MP Brian Mitchell told parliament the level of consultation was inadequate.

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Airservices committed to a Hobart airspace design review, which began in January this year with modifications made to the routes in March as a result of the community’s concerns.

Mr Angus said they had “learnt a lot”.

“There’s no doubt we did not consult effectively when we first introduced the flight paths in 2017,” he said.

Airservices Australia chief executive Jason Harfield.

“This is as comprehensive a consultation as we’ve ever done and we’ve learnt from some of the issues that were created last year.

“It’s been an experience that means we better know how to inform communities.”

Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield said the satellite-guided paths, the technology on which the new designs are based, was safer because it ensured aircraft flew predictably and consistently.

He said the new technology was needed to manage increased air traffic at Hobart.

‘MULTIPLE INCIDENTS’ SPARK WARNING OVER NEW ROUTES

Community consultation on the proposed paths runs until December 10 with a week of onsite engagement in Hobart from November 15-21.

Airservices will release a consultation summary report in December before a final decision is made in January next year.

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