The east-west runway tends to be used more frequently for arrivals from the east in the cooler months than at other times of the year. This means that you are more likely to notice aircraft arriving over your area to land on the east-west runway in autumn and winter.

It is relatively unusual for aircraft to depart towards the east from the east-west runway but it does occur on occasion when the wind is a strong easterly. When this occurs it means the crosswind limit has been exceeded on the parallel runways and they cannot be safely used. When all traffic has to use the east-west runway it usually results in delays at the airport and knock-on effects around the country.

In 2016 departures towards the east occurred on six days (in February, March, June, October and November), and in 2017 and 2018 occurred on one day each year (in October and November respectively).

The east-west runway tends to be used more frequently for arrivals from the west in the warmer months than at other times of the year because there are usually more easterly winds.  This means that you are more likely to notice aircraft arriving to the east-west runway over your area in spring and summer.

The east-west runway tends to be used more frequently for departures towards the west in the cooler months than at other times of the year because there are usually more westerly winds. This means that you are more likely to notice aircraft departing from the east-west runway over your area in autumn and winter.

During non-daylight saving periods you may notice some aircraft arriving in the early morning between 5.00am and 6.00am.

While the curfew ends at 6.00am, under the curfew regulations the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development may permit a limited number of passenger flights to land between 5.00am and 6.00am during non-daylight-saving periods. When daylight saving is in place these flights arrive after the curfew ends at 6.00am, but when clocks are turned back at the end of daylight saving they arrive an hour earlier. These flights generally originate from ports where curfews prevent them leaving later.

These early morning flights are required to land from the south, over the water. However they may fly over land as they travel to cross the coast and join the final approach.

An arrival burst of long-haul international flights tends to occur just after the curfew ends at 6am.

Heavy jets, especially those flying long-haul routes, require the use of the westernmost parallel runway for landing, (Runway 16 Right), because it is the longest runway.  The extra length is needed for a safe landing.  For this reason residents in suburbs around the flight path to this runway are likely to notice increased movements in the hour immediately after the curfew.

A departure burst of long-haul international flights tends to occur in the last two hours before the Sydney Airport curfew begins. 

Heavy jets, especially those flying long-haul routes, require the use of the westernmost parallel runway (Runway 34 Left) because it is the longest runway.  The extra length is needed for a safe take-off.  For this reason residents in suburbs under flight paths from this runway are likely to notice increased movements in the hour before the curfew. 

You may notice that these heavily laden jets tend to climb more slowly than lighter aircraft.

On occasion heavy jets bound for destinations in the United States will pass over your area after departure.

Heavy jets need to use the westernmost parallel runway because it is longer. After departing towards the north from the westernmost parallel runway, aircraft bound for the USA usually turn and track to the west once they reach 1,500 feet. At twelve nautical miles they turn to the north east to track out across the coast. These outbound aircraft need to pass over inbound traffic that is flying south down the coast. For this to occur safely the outbound jets must have reached a specified altitude. However some very large aircraft on non-stop flights are so heavily laden with fuel that their climb performance is affected and they cannot reach the required altitude in time.

When this is the case the aircraft is provided with a “radar departure”, where air traffic control provide a specific heading to ensure the aircraft can pass safely through the inbound traffic. This means these aircraft fly a different route than would normally be expected, including passing over different suburbs. The route will vary for each individual aircraft depending on what other traffic is in the airspace at the time. This creates a spread across suburbs to the north of the airport.

Because there are only a small number of these flights each day, and because the suburbs overflown by each aircraft vary, residents may notice these flights as unusual for their areas.

The image below of actual aircraft tracks shows a month of flights and illustrates the spread across many suburbs.