The current airport serves Noosa well. It caters just fine for interstate visitors and locals alike.
The expansion of the runway is to take larger aircraft, especially those from international destinations which currently fly into Brisbane. Most people think this is okay, since there aren’t, and likely won’t be for a while, any international flights.
Not so, aviation experts tell me that once the infrastructure is here, flights that normally arrive and depart from Brisbane will use the SC Airport because of significantly lower congestion and, more importantly, lower aircraft landing and holding charges. It will be Asia’s budget carriers that will use this airport for Brisbane passengers in the same way they now use the Gold Coast Airport. Arrive here, and take a coach to Brisbane. Easy peasy.
Check out the attached map for the routes the new SC Airport owners are expecting to cater for. There’s no way passengers from those destinations would be coming to anywhere but Brisbane. If this is the case, it’s pretty scary.
Pros
Nil, unless you believe Noosa can handle double or triple the current interstate and/or international visitors
Cons
Residents and visitors alike will be impacted by flight path noise. The serenity of Noosa will never be the same and its popularity as a place to live and visit will go down the gurgler.
Could we have stopped all this? As likely as stopping the sun rising tomorrow since we have no stake in the enterprise and we don’t control air space.
What can we do now? Try hard to ameliorate the effects the new airport on the Shire because over tourism will be no longer theoretical, it will become a fact.
images: Sunshine Coast Council, Sunshine Coast Airport
Wow Rod! Have you joined the throngs suggesting the sky is falling and the end is nigh? As well as thousands of homes under water and a river without fish we’ll now be going down the gurgler with an inundation of cash poor Asian tourists,our shire will no longer be livable and our house prices will plummet. I guess we’ll have to invest in double glazing, higher fences, guard dogs and security services or move ……….where to?
Where to? Good question. Not coastal Noosa, that’s for sure. Somewhere more serene, and somewhere not under water! This info is based on an interview with the new CEO of SC Airport. The new owner, Palisade Investment Partners, specialise in maximising returns from infrastructure projects and making sure their investors and superannuation funds get a good return on their invested funds.
We’re talking about 2030 for the worst effects to kick in, so I’d suggest you don’t panic and only do all the stuff that worries you. And, remember, house prices away from the coast will rise. Also, double down and go invest in Palisade: https://palisadepartners.com.au/