Brisbane Airport Corporation has welcomed the federal government’s decision not to place a curfew on the airport.
Imposing a curfew would have damaged Queensland’s tourism industry and limited the state’s economic growth, chief executive officer and managing director Julieanne Alroe said on Wednesday.
Alroe stated that the airport would not only meet aircraft noise mitigation targets but intended to exceed them. She pointed out that a review of round-the-clock operations at Brisbane Airport has shown that introducing an overnight curfew would not address the majority of noise complaints, which mostly relate to the evening and morning hours.
“A curfew would simply have pushed more traffic into those hours,” Alroe stated. “The long-term solution to overnight aircraft noise is our new parallel runway, which will provide Air Traffic Control with the option of directing all incoming and outbound aircraft over the bay during the night-time hours.
“We are investing more than $1.3 billion in building the runway and after it is operational in 2020, we expect that those who are currently experiencing overnight aircraft over their homes will notice the difference.”
