No freight flights during curfew!

Join the Community Campaign to stop QANTAS before it's too late.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications is taking community submissions on this right now.  

We only have a short time to act - that's why we have made putting your submission in easy.

Just fill in the form and follow the links on this page to put in a submission and have your voice heard.

What is the story with the GC Airport curfew?

The long-standing curfew in place at the Gold Coast Airport (11pm-6am Qld time) is highly valued by the surrounding Gold Coast and Tweed communities. It balances the needs of commercial operators with the needs of residents. The curfew arrangements are prescribed in the Air Navigation (Gold Coast Airport Curfew) Regulations 2018 and overseen by the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

When the regulations were introduced in 1999, they allowed four BAe 146 (large freight) movements within curfew hours to facilitate the delivery of newspapers to the GC from Sydney. Around 2005, the printing and delivery of the newspapers changed. The use of the four freight movements for the delivery of newspapers to the GC was made redundant, but the regulations were not updated to reflect the change.

In 2020, QANTAS made an application to use the four movements in the regulations for large freight delivery. From late 2020 and during 2021, the federal agency granted a series of short-term permits to QANTAS and Australia Post to land at GC Airport four times a week during curfew hours.

QANTAS is now seeking to make this an ongoing arrangement.

The QANTAS application doubles the number of curfew movements

Currently, there are on average 15 movements per month by small aircraft during curfew. The QANTAS proposal will double the movements during curfew, with the addition of these 4-weekly movements by large freight aircraft. There is also concern in the community that the federal agency may subsequently consider applications from commercial freight operators to increase the number of weekly movements.

Feasible alternatives exist for commercial freight operators

·     They can reorganise schedules to fit within the non-curfew hours (i.e. use the 17 hours available each day outside curfew to deliver air freight to GC Airport)

·     They can fly into the Brisbane Airport (24/7, no curfew) and use road transport.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN

We are calling on the federal Minister and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications to uphold the principles and intent of the GC Airport curfew and to grant no permissions to QANTAS or other operators to conduct freight movements during curfew.

Just fill in the form and follow the links on this page to put in a submission and have your voice heard. We have provided sample submission wording which you will see when you click the Start Writing button.