Local Community Votes For Plane Sense To Commence A HC Judicial Review Against The NZ-CAA , Wellington Airport & The Developer Airways .

• Affected by the aircraft noise, residents of Wellington’s northern suburbs are pursuing legal action to have the flight path altered.
• The residents formed the group Plane Sense after the DMAPS missed approach procedure was introduced by Wellington Airport in Dec. 2022.
• DMAPs was initiated and developed by Airways, New Zealand’s air navigation service provider, and approved by Wellington Airport.
• As per Wellington Airport, it has improved the safety, sustainability and efficiency of aircraft operations from the Airport.

In response to Wellington Airport’s media release (10 April 2024), Local community group Plane Sense Wellington Incorporated, which represents residents suffering the effects of a flight path change, held a community meeting on Sunday, 14 April 2024, to discuss the proposal with residents.

After the meeting it was voted in favour to hold the concerned organisations to account, for their involvement in the 1 December 2022 flight path change. 

This develoment is the result of recommended changes to flight paths in December 2022 under the new Divergent Missed Approach Protection System (DMAPS).

The vote, to issue court proceedings against Wellington Airport, Airways and the Civil Aviation Authority, will be considered by the Plane Sense committee before commencing a High Court Judicial Review.

The said flight path led to noise complaints from residents there. As part of a new approach protection system, an increased number of planes were now flying over Wellington’s northern suburbs of Khandallah, Broadmeadows, and Johnsonville.

While it has reduced noise impacts for some residents, others have experienced more noise than anticipated, with fewer departures over Newlands and more over Khandallah and Broadmeadows.

Residents complained of lost sleep, regular disruption, and health issues worsened by the noise, likened to a “roar” by one Broadmeadows resident.

What is the need of DMAPs ?

• DMAPs introduces a greater divergence between departure aircraft flight paths, and arrival go-around/missed approach flightpaths when the initial approach to land is abandoned for safety reasons.
• This enables gaps between arrivals to be reduced, while still enabling a departure to safely get airborne between arrivals - without the need for large passenger aircraft to manoeuvre visually in the event of a go-around or missed approach.
• In practice this increases capacity for arrivals and reduces holding time in the air, resulting in reduced flight times, fuel burn and CO2 emissions.

Last year Wellington Airport general manager corporate affairs Jenna Raeburn confirmed that the impact of the noise on the residents living under the path had been “under-estimated”.

In her current statement Raeburn said that after listening to feedback, the airport had asked Airways to develop alternate options to the DMAP (Divergent Missed Approach Protection System) path.

Wellington Airport’s General Manager Corporate Affairs Jenna Raeburn says:

“We’ve listened to public feedback and as a result we’ve asked Airways to look at this again and develop alternative options.

“Each option will have different benefits and drawbacks. It is unavoidable that aircraft will fly over residential areas under each option.

“The timing of any final change is still to be confirmed and will depend on which option is selected following consultation.”

Co-Founder of Plane Sense, Roxy Steel, says,

“Plane Sense called the meeting today to hear from our community and decide the next steps we take together. When Wellington Airport and Airways implemented the flight path change there was no consultation. They did not give us a voice or any notice that they were going to change the way we live our lives, in our homes. Now the community has been asked where we go from here and they have spoken”.

“At a meeting on the 27 March 2024, Wellington Airport said that it would put together a proposal for us to share with our members within ‘a day or so’, that didn’t happen. Two weeks later, we received 30 minutes notice that Wellington Airport was issuing a media release about the proposed consultation. Airways and Wellington Airport have been clear that they do not wish to reinstate the original flight path, so we question how genuine this consultation process can be”.

Co-Founder of Plane Sense, Louisa Picker, says,

“The sound report, which was the result of Plane Sense’s advocacy for sound monitors in the northern suburbs, showed that residents are experiencing a significant increase in noise as a result of the flight path change. It’s unfortunate for our community that a proper consultation didn’t happen prior. Unfortunately, Wellington Airport’s proposal doesn’t include any guarantee that the peace will be restored to our suburbs or when. Our community has been suffering the effects of poor procedure and process for more than a year now.”

Plane Sense concerns 

Plane Sense’s reference to ‘poor procedure and process’ includes Airways working to tight timeframes to implement a change by 1 December 2022.

Also, Wellington Airport’s approval of the flight path change with no public consultation, and the inadequate assessment of ‘noise’ before approval.

Additionally, Airways’ non-compliance with New Zealand Civil Aviation Rules – with the Director of Civil Aviation only retrospectively gazetting flight tracks a year after implementation, which is one of many legal issues.

However, a public consultation is scheduled for this year regarding possible alternative flight paths for northern jet departures from Wellington Airport. The upcoming consultation will consider several options:

• Altering the northern departure route for jets before 7 am to pass over less populated areas.
• Reverting to the previous northern departure route used before December 2022.
• Maintaining the current configuration.

Display Picture Courtesy : John T Spain