The preliminary airspace and flight paths as presented in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) were authorised by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in June 2025. You can view the final EIS here.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approved the Airspace Change Proposal on 25 November 2025.

The airspace changes and the new flight paths for WSI as well as other airports will be implemented from 9 July 2026.

The Minister has announced the Australian Government's commitment to implement operational measures to mitigate against aircraft noise, particularly at night.

You can read the Minister's release here.

Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport flight path design for single runway operations

The new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI) is on track to open for domestic and international passengers and freight by late 2026.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts finalised the WSI airspace and flight paths design Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) and published it in November 2024. It can be viewed here.

The final EIS includes five changes to the preliminary flight paths that were presented in the draft EIS. These changes are included in the online Aircraft Overflight Noise Tool, which can be viewed on this site.

In June 2025, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government announced that the preliminary airspace and flight paths outlined within the final EIS had been authorised to proceed to the detailed design phase.

As part of this authorisation, the Minister accepted conditions to be attached to the WSI airspace and flight paths, recommended by the former Minister for the Environment and Water. The conditions to establish an Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) can be viewed here. The approved EMP is being implemented by WSA Co, the Airport Lessee Company and can be viewed on their website.

The Minister also announced the Australian Government's commitment to implementing additional operational measures to reduce impacts on communities.

The operational measures include:

  • the prioritisation of 'Reciprocal Runway Operations' (RRO) mode, or 'head-to-head' operations where aircraft take-off to, and arrive from, the southwest, and the 'Reciprocal Runway Operations – Noise Abatement Procedure' (RRO-NAP) at night when safe to do so, and
  • establishing a community engagement forum to monitor and resolve aircraft noise and flight path issues in the early years of operation.

You can view the full announcement in the Minister's media release.

The Western Sydney Airport Plan sets out WSI's airspace and flight path design process. Airservices are responsible for the implementation of the WSI airspace and flight paths.

Visit Engage Airservices for more information and to sign up to receive project updates.

Further details on the operational measures will be announced in due course.