Perth Airport fears night curfew
The operators of Perth Airport have warned that pressure for a night curfew would become overwhelming - resulting in higher ticket prices - if the State Government continued to approve new housing developments under the runway flight paths.
The airport raised its concerns with the WA Planning Commission last week at a full board meeting held to discuss the proposed rezoning of the former Rosehill Golf Course in South Guildford into 800 home sites for about 2000 residents.
The development would be significantly affected by noise from the airport's existing runways, as well as the third runway due to open by the end of the decade.
"Perth simply cannot afford to have restrictions imposed on the airport's operations because of poor planning outcomes," Perth Airport chief executive Brad Geatches said.
"There is inconsistency in the State Government's position where, on the one hand, they are publicly calling for Perth Airport to expedite our privately funded investment to construct the third runway.
"On the other hand, they are considering allowing 800 homes to be constructed directly under the third runway flight path."
Sydney, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Geelong have curfews restricting aircraft movements between 11pm and 6am.
Perth Airport believes flights out of WA would become more expensive if a curfew was introduced because airlines would no longer be able to offer cheap "red eye" tickets to the east coast.
The flights are timed to land at airports such as Sydney just as night curfews are being lifted.
Mr Geatches said consumers would also have less choice because many international carriers preferred to fly out of Perth at night.
Transport Minister Dean Nalder recently backed the airport's expansion plans, describing the third runway as essential to the State's economic growth.
He refused to comment on the warning, saying only that the airport had raised its concerns with the WAPC and a recommendation would be made to the Planning Minister in due course.
Airservices Australia is responsible for monitoring airport noise levels and curfews can be imposed by the Federal Infrastructure Minister when the impact on residents is deemed excessive. Perth Airport is Australia's fourth busiest, dealing with about 150,000 aircraft movements a year. It is already under pressure from its existing neighbours to reduce noise.
Noise monitoring last year in Queens Road, South Guildford, showed that nearly 3500 flights a month generated noise levels above 80 decibels - significantly louder than a household vacuum cleaner.
National guidelines recommend homes should not be built near airports where plane noise regularly exceeds 70 decibels.
The planning commission is due to meet again this week.
