Small town's serenity threatened by new Sydney airport noise, residents say

Residents living in the Blue Mountains say they fear an end to the area's peace and quiet following last week's opening of the Western Sydney International Airport (WSI).The airport officially opened to domestic and international passengers on October 25 amid much fanfare. But a week later, concerns are being raised about aircraft noise.David Lysiak has lived in Warrimoo, a village in the lower Blue Mountains, for 44 years.Sydney's second airport officially opened on October 25. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)The retired grandfather and his wife raised four children there, and they have always loved the tranquillity."It's just beautiful, quiet. Not many people. We have one shop, a general store," he said."I just wander into the bush and go for a bushwalk, and take your bike down the trails … You ride through a blue gum forest and it's all accessible right from here."But he fears the serenity of the last four decades could be a thing of the past because his beloved town falls under the WSI flight path.Mr Lysiak is concerned for the future of Warrimoo. (ABC News: Simon Amery)Freight flights began operating from the airport around the clock in July."It worries me because I've only just retired and my wife has just retired … we were looking forward to a nice quiet retirement, and suddenly that might not be so quiet."Mr Lysiak said he has heard the noise of some freight aircraft "quite distinctly".That sound is only going to become more frequent.International airlines Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways, Qatar Airways and Vietjet Air have so far signed up with WSI, with flights expected to ramp up over the next couple of years.No 'perfect' optionThe airport has one active runway. (Supplied: Australian government)WSI has one runway, designated as Runway 05 or Runway 23, depending on the direction of use.Flights on Runway 23 arrive from the north-east and depart to the south-west over areas in the city's west and Blue Mountains.Flights on Runway 23 arrive from the north-east and depart to the south-west. (Supplied: Australian government)When Runway 05 is used, flights take off to the north-east and land from the south-west.Flights take off to the north-east and land from the south-west when Runway 05 is operational. (Supplied: Australian government)Airservices Australia has previously said that, where possible, Runway 23 would be prioritised during the day to minimise overflight and noise over residential suburbs to the north-east of the airport.Marek Bekier, a lecturer in air traffic management at the University of New South Wales School of Aviation, said there were always "trade-offs" when deciding on the best flight paths."An air route connecting an airport to the wider airway system is not just a straight line in the sky," he said."You have to think about it as a kind of three dimensional corridor that has to fulfil certain requirements."No option is perfect. You will never find a new route that will basically satisfy the wishes and demands of everyone, so you always have to make some trade-offs."Community treated as 'collateral damage'Julius Timmerman, who moved to the Blue Mountains town of Lawson with his wife in 1996, said people in his community had been treated as "collateral damage"."I'm worried about not being able to sleep at night, just the effect on my amenity because we bought a house in the mountains in good faith that the area would remain quiet and peaceful," he said."It's completely unfair that the people of Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains should be just treated as collateral damage for the sake of the airline industry."Julius Timmerman says he bought his house in the area thinking it would be quiet. (Supplied)He is one of hundreds of people in the community who want a rethink of the flight paths and have signed the Western Sydney Airport Community Impacts Alliance petition calling for a night-time curfew."The main thing that we want is, as mentioned in the petition, a curfew from 11pm to 6am, which lines up with Kingston Smith Airport," he said.Changes at Sydney AirportSydney's airspace is the busiest in the country and it is only going to get busier.While Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport is 45 kilometres away from WSI, the extra planes in the airspace prompted some flight path changes that took effect in July.The changes include some departures from Runway 34L, which now head further west over suburbs around Penrith rather than turning south over suburbs around Liverpool.The opening of the second airport prompted flight changes at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. (ABC News: Warwick Ford)A spokesperson for Sydney Airport said it continued to "operate as normal following the introduction of the new airspace arrangements".Professor Bekier said the "minor adjustments" were necessary to reduce the "complexity for the management of the airspace"."As the air routes branch out, they all intersect with other air routes, and from an operational perspective you want to avoid that … two traffic flows crossing each other," he said."From a design perspective you want to keep the routes as separated from each other as possible, it's not always possible, but you want to by design build in as much separation and safety as you can."