A PROPOSED trial of a new night-time flight path over Wynnum and neighbouring Bayside suburbs has sparked alarm among residents, with community members labelling it “even worse” than a previously rejected plan.
The proposal – part of Airservices Australia’s Noise Action Plan for Brisbane – was the focus of a recent community engagement session at Wynnum Golf Club, where officials presented maps and materials identifying potential night-time departure routes from Brisbane Airport over Bayside communities.
The preferred option involves departing aircraft using Brisbane Airport’s second runway – opened in 2020 – and executing a tight left-hand turn immediately after take-off to fly over what Airservices describes as “airport and industrial land” before continuing over Moreton Bay.
Once over water and at higher altitudes, aircraft would then connect to their main flight paths.
Airservices says this option aims to reduce aircraft noise across several Brisbane suburbs and has been shaped by “extensive industry and community engagement”.
The agency plans to trial the new path during upcoming runway maintenance next year, although no specific month has been given.
But Bayside residents and advocacy group Save Bayside Skies have raised strong objections, arguing the new route would see low-flying jets – at altitudes as low as 549m – pass over residential areas in Wynnum North, Wynnum West, Manly, Hemmant and Lytton, as well as the Caltex refinery, Port of Brisbane, and parts of the Moreton Bay Marine Park.
“This is even worse than the one already rejected in 2023,” said group spokesperson Dr Vanessa Taveras-Dalmau.
“It’s a high-risk, low-transparency proposal that threatens the safety, sleep, health, and homes of Bayside residents.”
She said the plan placed critical areas at risk, including the internationally protected Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland, which sits directly beneath the proposed corridor.
More than 10 community sessions were held to explain the proposed changes, with the Wynnum forum one of the final opportunities to ask questions directly.
