Western Sydney International Airport Flight Paths – Community Engagement

Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport represents one of the most significant infrastructure projects in Australia for decades. Set to open by late 2026 for domestic and international travellers and freight, the airport is a transformational infrastructure project that will deliver long-term employment opportunities, boost economic activity and provide extensive transport benefits for Western Sydney.

Location

Sydney, Australia

Project Status

Ongoing

The Greater Sydney airspace is the busiest in Australia and the impacts of the new airport’s flight paths are likely to be experienced by a wide and diverse audience across Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains, and metropolitan Sydney. WSP has supported our client to communicate and engage effectively with these communities and stakeholders since 2022 to help them participate in, inform and influence the decision-making process and development of the airport’s flight paths.

Developing the flight paths for single runway operations

Designing flight paths is complex and requires a careful and thorough process. The design must balance competing needs from the community, environment, industry and users of the Greater Sydney airspace, while maintaining safety as the priority. The preliminary flight paths were released in June 2023, with the draft EIS for the preliminary flight paths on public exhibition between October 2023 and the end of January 2024.

Engagement objectives and public participation process

WSP's engagement process for this project was based on research of new and expanded international airports around the world, as well as consultation with key groups and stakeholders. Overall, the engagement process was based on several tried and tested principles prioritising trust, transparency, and early, constant and consistent communication.

The engagement approach and public participation process was designed to:

inform the community and key stakeholders about the project
educate the community about basic aviation, how noise is measured and the complexities of flight path design
encourage participation in the conversation and ultimately, in the Draft EIS and submissions process, to ensure that key stakeholder and community knowledge, and specific needs are understood and addressed.

WSP supported the government in seeking input from participants across Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains and metropolitan Sydney in proximity to the flight paths, as well as those with shared interests such as aviation, tourism, business chambers, environmental organisations and peak organisations. We prioritised the most heavily impacted and those who may have a barrier to engagement, and worked with local groups and government representatives (including the Forum on Western Sydney Airport, (FOWSA)) to design a participation process that responded to the unique, diverse community and stakeholders.

Engaging with diverse communities and First Nations peoples

The communities affected by the preliminary flight paths are extremely diverse, with significant numbers of people for whom English is not a first language. Collateral was carefully developed in plain language and simple graphics and translated into the most spoken languages in Western Sydney including Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese and Tagalog which ensured an inclusive community consultation program. In addition, translated versions of three informative animated videos were produced and made available online.

More than 13,500 Aboriginal sites and places were identified in the Aboriginal heritage study for the project across Western Sydney. Our team met with First Nations knowledge holders and stakeholders to understand cultural values, Aboriginal places and concerns about the potential impacts of the project. This included more than 120 interactions over phone, email, virtual meetings and face-to-face meetings with First Nations people and organisations.

Engagement techniques and communication methods

From survey research, we determined the communities’ communication and engagement preferences. We provided information in a variety of media, including face-to-face, digital, printed brochures, animations and visual imagery. We used a range of traditional techniques to communicate, to take people on the journey, and to simplify the complex. This included an innovative, award-winning Aircraft Overflight Noise Tool created by To70 to help people better understand how they would be affected, as noise can be experienced differently by different individuals. The tool included location-specific impact summaries, 3D visualisations of flight procedures and noise impacts.

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In total, we achieved:

30 community information and feedback sessions with 1,300 participants
45 community information stalls with over 4,400 visitors
124 properties doorknocked
4,300 flyers handed out at 21 train stations
letterbox drops to over 900,000 properties
218,000 social media post impressions
over 460,000 Online Community Portal visits
over 331,000 Aircraft Overflight Noise Tool visits
over 8,400 submissions received on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS)
briefings with stakeholder and community organisations, state and local representatives, and government organisations
research focus groups held in language to review and seek feedback on collateral developed
engaged with 13 First Nations groups
a community 1800 number and project email.

Shaping the future

The WSI Airspace and flight path design project is a once-in-a-generation engagement project. It would be difficult to find another project with the same breadth of engagement area and the same level of complexity of information.

By spending the time, resources and energy to provide the public the opportunity to learn, we increased the community’s understanding of the project and empowered them to make considered submissions. This has maximised the communities’ ability to influence the final flight paths and aircraft movements and take an active role in shaping the future of air travel in their area.

Contact our experts below, or click to find out more about our Aviation services and our role as Independent Certifier for Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.