In response to an increase in complainants about general
aviation activity (including training) at Gold Coast Airport we undertook an investigation to:

• determine the nature and volume of the activity
• review the compliance with published procedures
• identify and assess any opportunities for noise improvements
• make recommendations, if appropriate.

We found the aircraft noise impact of circuit training at the Gold Coast Airport was a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has meant a reduction of jet and other scheduled flight operations and has provided an opportunity for training operations to increase (as they are not restricted by jet operations).

Our investigation found that Air Traffic Control are complying with published Noise Abatement Procedures for circuit training, including distributing traffic between the east and west sides of the airport.

Flight training schools and Gold Coast Airport have worked together to reduce the hours of circuits which provides a slight noise mitigation to residents in the evening.

We did not find any further recommendations that could mitigate this unexpected noise increase.

When the COVID-19 health crisis passes, and as air traffic levels return to normal, operations at Gold Coast Airport will return to standard practice, and training aircraft will again be restricted due to other operations.