Airport planning

All leased federal airports (except for Tennant Creek and Mount Isa), including Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, are subject to a land-use planning framework outlined in the Airports Act 1996.

Information on ministerial decisions on Airport Master Plans and Major Development Plans is available on the Ministerial decisions page.

Airport master plans

As part of the planning framework, airport-lessee companies are required to prepare a Master Plan that incorporates an Airport Environment Strategy. The Master Plan is a 20-year strategic vision for the airport site which is renewed on a five-yearly or eight-yearly cycle, depending on the airport. The Master Plan outlines a variety of matters, including future land uses, types of permitted development, and noise and environmental impacts.

The Airport Environment Strategy sets out the airport's strategy to manage environmental issues within the five-year or eight-year initial period outlined in the Master Plan, and beyond. It is the basis on which the Australian Government measures the environmental performance of airports and the document by which airport tenants will determine their environmental responsibilities.

In developing their Master Plans, airports must publish a Preliminary Draft Master Plan and invite public comment.

Following public consultation, the airport-lessee company must then submit a Draft Master Plan to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, for a decision. The Minister must either approve or refuse to approve the Draft Master Plan. If the Minister neither approves nor refuses to approve the Draft Master Plan within 50 business days from receiving all the necessary documents and information, the Minister is taken to have approved the Draft Master Plan.

In addition, airport-lessee companies for all leased federal airports (except Tennant Creek and Mount Isa Airports) are required to develop a Major Development Plan for major airport developments on the airport site. A draft version of the Major Development Plan must undergo public consultation before being submitted to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government for a decision.

As part of the master planning process, an Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) must be prepared for leased federal airports. The ANEF is submitted to the Minister alongside the Draft Master Plan. Under the Airports Act 1996, these ANEFs are required to be endorsed in a 'manner' approved by the Minister. The current "manner of endorsement" was approved in April 2017.

Further information on ANEF endorsement processes is available on the Airservices Australia website.

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Airport major development plans

Changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act): From 1 December 2026, controlled activities set out in Major Development Plans may be subject to separate EPBC Act approval processes.

Environment Protection Reform Act 2025—Airports Act 1996 amendments, major airport developments, and transitional arrangements—issued October 2026

Under section 89 of the Airports Act 1996, airport-lessee companies for all leased federal airports, excluding Mount Isa and Tennant Creek, are required to develop and submit Major Development Plans (MDPs) for the Minister's approval for specific types of development, as well as for developments that exceed certain thresholds. These developments are known as major airport developments.

This includes, alongside other specific developments outlined in section 89 of the Airports Act 1996, proposals to construct:

  • a new runway, extend or alter an existing runway, an exempt sensitive development, or those that are likely to significantly affect the community and environment (these developments require approval irrespective of construction cost or building footprint).
  • a passenger terminal, or extend a passenger terminal (these are subject to approval depending on building footprint)
  • a building that is not for use as a passenger terminal, a new or extended taxiway, a new or extended road or vehicular access facility, and a new or extended railway or rail handling facility (these require approval where the cost of construction exceeds a specified monetary threshold, which is currently $25 million).

Sensitive developments such as educational institutions (excluding aviation training facilities), hospitals, residential dwellings and community care facilities are prohibited, unless by Ministerial exception under section 89A of the Airports Act 1996.

The Airports (Major Airport Developments) Determination 2021, which came into force in March 2021, provides clarity around what costs of construction are included and excluded in the monetary threshold.

All airport developments (including major airport developments) must be consistent with approved Master Plans for each airport.

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Master plan and major development plan guidance

The department acknowledges that some airport-lessee companies voluntarily provide exposure drafts of master plans and major development plans to the department before commencing the statutory consultation processes required under the Airports Act 1996. To support consistent administration, the department is clarifying its approach to the consideration of exposure drafts.

The department has published the below guidance material to support airport-lessee companies in understanding aspects of the planning framework under the Airports Act 1996. Current guidance:

Previous guidance includes:

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Airport consultation and community engagement

Airport-lessee companies engage with a range of stakeholders through Community Aviation Consultation Groups (CACGs) and Planning Coordination Forums (PCFs). These groups were established in 2011.

Community Aviation Consultation Groups (CACGs)

Community Aviation Consultation Groups (CACGs) provide the community with a mechanism to engage with airport-lessee companies and aviation businesses on the operations, development and impact of their airports. CACGs give the community a pathway to engage early on any matters that impact the community, including safety, aircraft noise, land use planning and site development. Initiative 38 of the Aviation White Paper—Towards 2050 (AWP) committed to strengthening existing CACG Guidelines, last revised in 2016, to enable greater community input into work programs, increase community involvement in meetings and increase the flow of information to the community from CACG meetings.

The CACG Guidelines were restructured and revised in response to feedback received during the AWP process and subsequent consultation on the draft guidelines. The final Guidelines are provided below:

Planning Coordination Forums (PCFs)

PCFs provide for consultation between airport operators and senior local, state and federal government authorities responsible for town planning, transport and infrastructure investment. Effective discussions in PCF meetings support better integration of planning for the airport with the surrounding urban and regional communities. All major capital city airports, and some secondary airports, operate PCFs.

Membership of PCFs is by invitation only and generally consists of representatives from the airport-lessee company, federal, state and local governments, and Airservices Australia. In some cases, Defence and/or CASA may also be present or invited. The PCF Chair is usually a senior representative of the airport-lessee company.
The department has developed:

Airport regulation

All leased federal airports, including Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, are subject to the following regulations:

Certain leased federal airports are subject to further regulations:

  • Economic Regulation which includes reporting on the prices charged for aeronautical services and facilities, financial statements and quality of service information (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Airports)
  • The Parking Infringement Notices Scheme (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Townsville Airports)
  • Administration of the Liquor Licensing Regime (Sydney, Bankstown and Camden Airports) (repealed 1 April 2026)
  • Demand Management at Sydney Airport
  • Curfews (Adelaide, Sydney, Gold Coast and Essendon Airports).

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Relevant legislation and regulations

The following legislation and regulations are relevant to the planning and regulation of leased federal airports:

Further environmental regulations

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water administers this legislation.

Curfew legislation and regulations

The following legislation and regulations are relevant to airport curfews:

The most recent versions of these Acts and Regulations can be found at the Federal Register of Legislation.

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Aircraft noise

Australia

Overseas

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Airport environmental management

Leased federal airports are subject to environmental regulations under the Airports Act 1996 and Airports (Environment Protection) Regulations 2026.

Airport environmental management