05-06-2025
Why this map of the flight paths for Western Sydney Airport has outraged locals: 'Over our house'
Locals have been left furious over the finalised plans for the flight paths for the new Western Sydney Airport with some complaining about the future noise pollution.
Transport Minister Catherine King announced on Wednesday the locked in flight routes as construction was completed on the runway, with the facility set to open in 2026.
Residents in the Blue Mountains and Wallacia regions have benefitted from the alterations to the early designs unveiled in 2023 and 2024 but many are still angry, saying they do not go far enough.
Ms King said there are five changes made to reduce aircraft noise following community consultations, with four of those regarding night operations.
'Most notably, I'll be issuing a ministerial direction to Airservices Australia to make reciprocal runway operations (RRO) the default operating mode at night, including specific noise abatement procedure, when both are safe to do so,' she added.
RRO involves planes taking off and landing in the same direction, which in this case will be the southwest utilising opposite ends of the single runway between 11pm and 5.30am.
Outraged residents have flooded social media with many complaining they will be affected by the noise pollution.
'Good stuff, Springwood/Faulconbridge still getting overnight noise then. The arrivals practically goes over our house,' another said.
'Noise is NOT subjective it is actual noise, I don't believe I am in the corridor, but do sympathise with those who are,' another said.
'No curfews. Huge issue!' a third said.
The Residents Against Western Sydney Airport (RAWSA) group agreed the changes were 'just window dressing' and said it was 'appalled' that there was no change to the '24/7 flight intrusion'.
RAWSA wants a curfew and hourly flight caps.
One local on a Blue Mountains Facebook group said that properties under the aircraft routes should be soundproofed at the government's expense.
'Soundproofing for homes under flight path needed so we can sleep of a night or better still give us a curfew like Mascot. Maybe the people off the West don't count.'
Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said that it was 'not good enough' that the area would still be impacted.
'We are a world heritage area. Flogging this place with aircraft noise is nothing short of a senseless disregard for the United Nations declaration,' he said.
'Moreover, this decision treats the people of the Blue Mountains and western Sydney as second-class citizens.'
However, others argued the noise would be minimal.
'Almost every single major city in the world has a 24/7 airport. It's good for the economy if it annoys you that much f*** off and move somewhere else,' one said.
'Might be noisy at first, but you'll get used to the noise and it won't bother you anymore,' another added.
'Complaining about decently high altitude plane noise meanwhile overnight 30-40 coal trains barrel along with no issues.'
One pilot, Captain Byron Bailey, said the RRO directive was 'almost farcical' as it would result in congestion due to pilots having to navigate the additional challenges of taking off into-wind and landing with the wind behind them.
'Nowhere in the world is (RRO) done like this. The resulting traffic confliction and holding would be ridiculous, possibly difficult for ATC to manage,' he told Sky News.
However, Aviation consultant and CEO of Strategic Air, Tony Stanton, argued the RRO would only be used at night when air traffic was minimal.
'We've learnt lessons from other airports, which is why I have imposed a number of additional conditions that will reduce our aircraft noise,' Infrastructure and Transport Minister King said.
'Can I say that there will be no noise for anyone? I can't say that because that's the very nature of operating an airport is that you have planes, and planes do make noise.'
