Airservices is a government-owned corporation providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry. We manage air traffic operations for around 75 million passengers on more than three million flights every year.

Monitoring aircraft noise

Airservices Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) collects noise and flight path data at Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Essendon, Adelaide and Perth airports. This system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, collecting data from every aircraft operating to and from the airport, using monitors located within the local communities. It is the world’s largest, most geographically spread system of its type. Airservices has published a factsheet that explains how the NFPMS operates.

Noise monitoring is not conducted to determine compliance with aircraft noise regulations – there is no maximum level allowed for aircraft noise. Rather it is undertaken to:

  • determine the contribution of aircraft noise to the overall noise that a community is exposed to
  • provide information to the community about aircraft noise and operations
  • help local authorities make informed land use planning decisions (though decisions can only be refined through the use of monitoring data, not completely overturned)
  • inform estimates of the impact of changes in air traffic control procedures – including changes designed to reduce noise impacts of aircraft
  • validate noise modelling
  • inform the determination of aviation policy by government
  • assist the government to implement legislation, such as curfew acts and regulations.

Airservices produces Quarterly reports that include monitoring information from the NFPMS.

Airservices regularly reviews the noise monitoring networks around major airports to ensure that it meets current needs.

Technical Resources

Fundamentals of sound factsheet (PDF)
Federal Aviation Administration (US Department of Transport) Estimated Airplane Noise Levels in A-Weighted Decibels (PDF)