Blue Mountains residents push for overnight airport curfew
Hundreds have signed a petition seeking an 11pm–6am curfew as residents raise concerns about aircraft noise and sleep.
A petition seeking a night-time curfew at Western Sydney International Airport has attracted hundreds of signatures, with Blue Mountains residents concerned that growing air traffic will disturb their sleep. Passenger operations began on 25 October, following the start of round-the-clock freight services in July.
Lawson resident Julius Timmerman is among those backing the Western Sydney Airport Community Impacts Alliance petition. He said residents wanted flights stopped between 11pm and 6am and feared losing the quiet surroundings that had drawn them to the mountains.
In Warrimoo, David Lysiak said he could already clearly hear some freight planes. After 44 years in the village, he was worried that aircraft noise would disrupt the peaceful retirement he and his wife had anticipated.
Flight numbers are expected to grow over the coming couple of years. Airservices Australia has previously said its daytime preference, where possible, would be Runway 23 to reduce noise for neighbourhoods north-east of the airport. Departing aircraft using that direction fly south-west, crossing parts of western Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
Air traffic management lecturer Marek Bekier, of the University of New South Wales School of Aviation, said flight-path planning required compromises. Routes needed to satisfy operational requirements while limiting intersections between traffic flows, he said, and no design could satisfy every community's wishes.
