BFPCA Media Release, 23 October 2025
Key Highlights
- Passenger numbers forecast to double to 52.3 million by 2046.
- Aircraft movements set to surge to 382,000 annually plus 195,000 from Archerfield, bringing the Brisbane Basin close to 600,000 flights each year or around 1,600 flights per day.
- Night-time freight operations entrenched, with no curfew and continued reliance on older, louder aircraft.
- Noise mapping underplays impacts, with ANEF noise contours based on just two years of data.
- Sustainability claims undermined by tenants operating 50-year-old aircraft on lead-based avgas fuel.
- Expansion plans include Terminal 3 by 2031 and safeguarded land for future runway extensions.
- The mandatory 60-business-day consultation period ends on 30 October 2025.
Passenger numbers from Birsbane Airport will more than double from 25.7 million in 2026 to 52.3 million by 2046 with aircraft movements rising from 225,000 to nearly 382,000 annually, according to Brisbane Airport’s new Preliminary Draft 2026 Master Plan.
Combined with Archerfield Airport’s projected 195,000 flights per year, the Brisbane Basin could see almost 600,000 flights annually or around 1,600 flights per day. These forecasts represent an entirely unsustainable total number of daily aircraft movements.
This is the result of two decades of aggressive growth and expansion pursued by Brisbane Airport that will turn Brisbane into an “aerotropolis” and lock us into a future of more flights, more noise, and more disruption for communities across South East Queensland.
The Master Plan will make Brisbane Airport Australia’s overnight freight network hub, with the heaviest flows between 7pm and 6am, condemning residents to decades of night-time disruption that is most damaging to community health and wellbeing.
Brisbane Airport’s aircraft noise maps in the plan confirm hundreds of thousands of households in Brisbane will experience frequent disruptive noise events above 70 decibels or the equivalent of a lawn mower being turned on in their living room. However, these maps do not reveal the true extent of the noise fallout. The draft master plan relies on outdated ANEF noise contour mapping, which is based on two years of noise data and fails to capture the full extent of aircraft overflights or the true distance that noise travels from the flight paths.Â
Meanwhile, sustainability claims in the draft master plan are undermined by major airport tenants such as GAM Aviation, which continues to operate aircraft over 50 years old using lead-based avgas fuel. This makes Brisbane Airport one of the city’s least regulated polluters.
Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance is calling on greater Brisbane residents to lodge a submission to the Master Plan. Together, we can demand a fairer, healthier future for Brisbane’s communities.
Submissions close 30 October 2025. Have your say: https://bfpca.org.au/noway
Quotes Attributable to the Chairperson of the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance (BFPCA)
“Brisbane Airport’s Master Plan reads like a blueprint for unchecked growth, with no regard for the airport’s host communities who already bear the brunt of the noise and pollution.”
“Almost 600,000 flights a year or 1,600 a day in the Brisbane Basin is not a sustainable future. It is a recipe for health impacts, sleepless nights, and declining liveability.”
“BAC’s so-called sustainability plan is a sham when one of its anchor tenants is still operating 1970s aircraft on toxic lead-based avgas fuel.”
“The Master Plan lays out a vision of wild aviation growth, worsening noise and pollution, heavier night-time disruption, and greater road congestion – all while glossing over negative impacts and limiting genuine community consultation.”
“Communities deserve more than spin, selective mapping, and token consultation. Brisbane residents have a right to honest information and a seat at the table.”
“We urge all Brisbane residents to make a submission before 30 October. This is our chance to hold BAC accountable and demand a fairer, healthier future for our city.”
About BFPCA
With the launch of Brisbane Airport’s New Parallel Runway on 12 July 2020 came a new airspace design and flight paths that concentrate aircraft noise over densely populated residential areas.
Brisbane Airport and Airservices Australia sold this project to Brisbane communities suggesting the New Parallel Runway will enable them to prioritise “over water” operations that direct planes away from residential areas. The CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff is on the record saying, “the net effect of aircraft flying over the city will decrease.”
Brisbane families and communities are suffering from excessive noise pollution and associated health and related impacts from Brisbane Airport’s new flight paths launched in July 2020. The Aircraft Noise Ombudsman report, the Brisbane Airport PIR Advisory Forum (BAPAF) and flight path design consultants TRAX International have all confirmed that Brisbane communities were misled using flawed noise modelling, deceiving community engagement, and offered inadequate noise abatements.
Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance (BFPCA) came together in 2020 to fight back on behalf of all Brisbane families and communities experiencing this noise pollution.
For more background information, visit: https://bfpca.org.au/
