Is Ballina Byron Gateway Airport loud?

For most of the Ballina area it's a single-runway regional field with modest movement numbers, so daytime noise is far lighter than a major capital. But it's the busiest regional airport in NSW, and the suburbs directly off the runway ends — Skennars Head and Lennox Head to the north-east, and the Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum arrival corridor inland — do get regular overflight. From 9 July 2026 the new controlled-airspace flight paths concentrate traffic onto fixed corridors, which makes those specific areas louder while spreading the load differently elsewhere. Drop a pin on the map above to see your exact street's exposure.

What's changing with Ballina's flight paths in 2026?

On 9 July 2026 the region switches from uncontrolled airspace (where pilots self-separate) to controlled airspace with an air-traffic-control tower, and a redesigned set of flight paths comes into effect. The design was finalised in December 2024 after community engagement. Arrivals are spread more evenly over Teven, Tintenbar and Cumbalum to reduce the total number of people overflown, while departures shift to the south of Alstonville on a simplified, runway-aligned track. The catch is concentration — aircraft now follow fixed corridors, so some residents who previously got scattered, occasional overflights sit directly and repeatedly under a defined path.

Why is there so much plane noise at Lennox Head and Skennars Head?

Both sit off the Runway 06 (north-east) end, toward the coast, directly on the main over-coast arrival and departure axis. Skennars Head is immediately off the runway end and residents there have publicly raised concerns about unmitigated noise under the concentrated paths. Lennox Head is also the site of one of the official noise monitors being installed to baseline conditions before the 2026 change. Both are rated high exposure on the map above.

Which Ballina-area suburbs are quietest for aircraft noise?

Areas lateral to or well away from the 06/24 runway axis fare best. South of the field — Empire Vale and South Ballina — sits off the concentrated corridors. Inland rural localities like Tucki Tucki and the Lismore/Goonellabah fringe, and Newrybar to the north, only catch occasional or higher-altitude traffic. The most affected areas are directly off the runway ends to the north-east (Skennars Head, Lennox Head) and along the inland arrival corridor (Teven, Tintenbar, Cumbalum). Use the pin-drop tool above to check any specific address.

What happens to Alstonville and Wollongbar departures?

These sit toward the Runway 24 (south-west) inland end. Under the finalised design, departures were deliberately shifted to the south of Alstonville to lessen noise over the town centre, so Alstonville gets some relief but remains near the corridor. Wollongbar is on the inland departure and approach side but slightly off the simplified departure track. Both are rated medium exposure.

How do I report or check aircraft noise around Ballina?

Submit complaints to Airservices Australia's Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS) at airservicesaustralia.com or by phone on 1800 802 584. Air traffic control is a federal Airservices Australia responsibility, not the airport's. Three official noise monitors at Lennox Head, Lynwood and Tucki Tucki are being established to baseline conditions, and Airservices has committed to a formal review 12 months after the switch-on comparing modelled forecasts to actual flight data.

Is this the same as Gold Coast or Byron Bay airport?

No. This is Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (ICAO YBNA, code BNK), operated by Ballina Shire Council and located about 5 km from Ballina on the NSW Northern Rivers coast. It is the main air gateway for the Byron Bay region but is not in Byron Bay itself — Byron Bay has no airport — and it is a separate facility from Gold Coast Airport (YBCG/OOL) at Coolangatta further north.

Ballina Flight Path Noise Map – Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK)

Name: Aircraft noise observations near Ballina Byron Gateway Airport
Creator: Flight Path Noise
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Aircraft noise around Ballina in October 2026

Loudest neighborhoods near Ballina: Lennox Head, Skennars Head, Cumbalum, Teven, Tintenbar. Quietest: Pottsville / Tucki Tucki (rural monitor area), Lismore / Goonellabah fringe, Newrybar, Empire Vale / South Ballina. Busiest around 10 AM local time averaging 25 flights/day. Source: Flight Path Noise monitoring data, 30 days to 2026-10-08.

Flights by hour · last 30 days

12a6a12p6p

Average daily traffic

flights / day · 739 total

Busiest hour

10 AM

peak 90 dB

Loudest hour

10 AM

peak 90 dB

Loudest residential area

Ballina (East Ballina / town)

64 dB avg · ~15 flights/day · Office noise

Close to the field but largely lateral to the runway centreline rather than directly under the main corridor

Does Ballina Airport have a curfew?

No — no enacted curfew (only a proposed council restriction).

There is no mandatory, legislated night curfew in force. The only curfew on record is a proposed Ballina Shire Council motion to restrict scheduled jet and turboprop flights roughly between 10:30 PM and 6:00 AM (excluding emergencies and delayed services) — that is an advocacy proposal, not an enacted rule. Separately, from 9 July 2026 the new air-traffic-control tower operates daily only about 07:00–20:00 local; outside those hours the published flight paths may not be used. That is ATC coverage, not a noise curfew.

Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK/YBNA) is a single-runway regional field on the NSW Northern Rivers coast that punches well above its size — the busiest regional airport in New South Wales and the main air gateway for the Byron Bay hinterland. Its defining noise story is a once-in-a-generation change. After decades of pilot-self-separated uncontrolled airspace, the area transitions to air-traffic-controlled airspace on 9 July 2026, paired with a finalised flight-path redesign (settled December 2024 after community engagement) that concentrates aircraft onto fixed “roads in the sky.” Arrivals will be spread more evenly over Teven, Tintenbar and Cumbalum to reduce the number of people overflown; departures shift south of Alstonville on a simplified, runway-aligned track. The catch is concentration — some residents who previously got scattered, occasional overflights now sit directly and repeatedly under a defined corridor.

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Ballina has a single sealed runway, 06/24 (1,900 m long × 30 m wide), oriented roughly south-west to north-east — so virtually all noise falls along that one axis. Runway 06 heads north-east toward the coast and Lennox Head; Runway 24 heads south-west toward Wollongbar and Alstonville. Because there’s only one runway, the exposure map is unusually simple: you’re either under the 06/24 centreline (or its inland arrival fan) or you’re lateral to it and much quieter.

Area	Aircraft noise	Why
Skennars Head	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Immediately off the Runway 06 north-east end
Lennox Head	✈︎✈︎✈︎	On the over-coast 06 axis; official noise-monitor site
Cumbalum	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Named on the new Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum arrival corridor
Teven	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Identified arrival-track community under inbound paths
Tintenbar	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Concentrated overflight on the fixed arrival corridor
Wollongbar	✈︎✈︎	Inland Runway 24 side, slightly off the departure track
Alstonville	✈︎✈︎	Departures shifted south of town; near but not under
Ballina town / East Ballina	✈︎✈︎	Close to the field but lateral to the centreline
Lynwood	✈︎✈︎	Between field and inland corridor; noise-monitor site
Ballina Heights / Cumbalum ridge	✈︎✈︎	Elevated, partly under the Cumbalum arrival fan
Tucki Tucki / Pottsville	✈︎	Rural monitor area, off the coastal corridor
Newrybar	✈︎	North of the arrival corridor; occasional overflight
Empire Vale / South Ballina	✈︎	South of the field, lateral to the 06/24 axis
Lismore / Goonellabah fringe	✈︎	Far inland; higher-altitude transiting traffic only

If aircraft noise is a primary concern, the practical move around Ballina is to stay lateral to the 06/24 line and away from the inland arrival fan — south of the field (Empire Vale, South Ballina), or well inland and off the coast axis. The hardest-hit areas are directly off the runway ends to the north-east (Skennars Head, Lennox Head) and along the Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum arrival corridor, where the 2026 redesign concentrates inbound traffic onto a fixed path. If you’re looking at a house in any of those areas, drop a pin on the map above to see your specific street.

Flight patterns and runway use

There is only one runway, so runway selection is purely wind-driven — both ends are used depending on prevailing conditions, and there is no single fixed “preferential runway.” What changes in 2026 is not the runway but the paths aircraft follow to and from it.

Under the design finalised in December 2024 and effective with controlled airspace on 9 July 2026, the routing is asymmetric by phase:

Arrivals are spread more evenly over the inland communities of Teven, Tintenbar and Cumbalum “to reduce the total number of people overflown.” Rather than one tight line, inbound traffic fans across these localities.
Departures are shifted to the south of Alstonville on a simplified, runway-aligned track intended to lessen noise for that community.

The bigger structural change is the move from uncontrolled airspace (pilots self-separating) to controlled airspace with an approach- and aerodrome-control service run from a tower, operating daily roughly 07:00–20:00 local. Outside those hours, and for some training and recreational flights, the published paths may not be used. QantasLink Dash 8 Q400 turboprops — the mainstay of the scheduled fleet — are being equipped for RNP-AR, allowing precise tracking on both the Runway 06 and Runway 24 approaches, which is exactly what makes the concentrated corridors possible.

To baseline conditions before the change, Airservices is installing noise monitors at Lennox Head, Lynwood and Tucki Tucki, with a formal 12-month post-implementation review comparing modelled forecasts to actual flight data. The route-density layer on the map above will show the cumulative pattern: a strong north-east coastal band toward Lennox Head off Runway 06, the inland arrival fan over Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum, and the south-of-Alstonville departure track off Runway 24.

When is it quietest?

Ballina’s daily noise profile is shaped less by a curfew (there is no mandatory one) and more by the tower’s operating window and the scheduled-airline timetable:

Before 07:00: the ATC tower is not yet active. Scheduled jet and turboprop traffic is minimal; this is when the proposed (not enacted) council curfew would apply.
Morning peak (07:00 – 09:00): the first wave of QantasLink, Jetstar and Virgin services to Sydney and Melbourne departs. This is one of the busier windows of the day.
Midday: moderate, intermittent — a handful of movements per hour rather than a continuous stream.
Evening (17:00 – 20:00): the return bank, as services come back from the capitals before the tower window closes.
After 20:00: the tower service ends and published paths may not apply; scheduled traffic tails off sharply.

Note the important distinction: the ~07:00–20:00 window is air traffic control coverage, not a noise curfew. Flights can and do operate outside it, but the concentrated controlled-airspace paths are tied to tower hours. The only curfew on record — a proposed 10:30 PM – 6:00 AM restriction on scheduled jet and turboprop flights — is a Ballina Shire Council advocacy motion, not a rule in force.

For your specific address, drop a pin on the map above to see the hourly profile.

How to check noise at your specific address

The map above is the answer to “is this spot loud?” Three steps:

Search your address or postcode in the bar at the bottom of the map.
Drop a pin — click the location marker that appears.
Read the noise report that opens in the sidebar: average daily noise (Leq), peak observed dB, flights per day passing within 2 km, and an hourly breakdown.

The Noise Heatmap layer (orange/red = louder) and the Route Density layer (purple/magenta = busier flight corridors) make the single-axis 06/24 pattern obvious — a bright coastal band to the north-east and the inland arrival fan, with everything lateral to it dropping into the green. Because the 2026 redesign concentrates traffic onto fixed corridors rather than spreading it, the practical takeaway is that two addresses a few streets apart can have very different exposure. Check your exact street rather than relying on the suburb name — and if you’re near Skennars Head, Lennox Head or the Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum corridor, the difference is worth a careful look.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ballina Byron Gateway Airport loud?: For most of the Ballina area it's a single-runway regional field with modest movement numbers, so daytime noise is far lighter than a major capital. But it's the busiest regional airport in NSW, and the suburbs directly off the runway ends — Skennars Head and Lennox Head to the north-east, and the Teven–Tintenbar–Cumbalum arrival corridor inland — do get regular overflight. From 9 July 2026 the new controlled-airspace flight paths concentrate traffic onto fixed corridors, which makes those specific areas louder while spreading the load differently elsewhere. Drop a pin on the map above to see your exact street's exposure.
What's changing with Ballina's flight paths in 2026?: On 9 July 2026 the region switches from uncontrolled airspace (where pilots self-separate) to controlled airspace with an air-traffic-control tower, and a redesigned set of flight paths comes into effect. The design was finalised in December 2024 after community engagement. Arrivals are spread more evenly over Teven, Tintenbar and Cumbalum to reduce the total number of people overflown, while departures shift to the south of Alstonville on a simplified, runway-aligned track. The catch is concentration — aircraft now follow fixed corridors, so some residents who previously got scattered, occasional overflights sit directly and repeatedly under a defined path.
Why is there so much plane noise at Lennox Head and Skennars Head?: Both sit off the Runway 06 (north-east) end, toward the coast, directly on the main over-coast arrival and departure axis. Skennars Head is immediately off the runway end and residents there have publicly raised concerns about unmitigated noise under the concentrated paths. Lennox Head is also the site of one of the official noise monitors being installed to baseline conditions before the 2026 change. Both are rated high exposure on the map above.
Which Ballina-area suburbs are quietest for aircraft noise?: Areas lateral to or well away from the 06/24 runway axis fare best. South of the field — Empire Vale and South Ballina — sits off the concentrated corridors. Inland rural localities like Tucki Tucki and the Lismore/Goonellabah fringe, and Newrybar to the north, only catch occasional or higher-altitude traffic. The most affected areas are directly off the runway ends to the north-east (Skennars Head, Lennox Head) and along the inland arrival corridor (Teven, Tintenbar, Cumbalum). Use the pin-drop tool above to check any specific address.
What happens to Alstonville and Wollongbar departures?: These sit toward the Runway 24 (south-west) inland end. Under the finalised design, departures were deliberately shifted to the south of Alstonville to lessen noise over the town centre, so Alstonville gets some relief but remains near the corridor. Wollongbar is on the inland departure and approach side but slightly off the simplified departure track. Both are rated medium exposure.
How do I report or check aircraft noise around Ballina?: Submit complaints to Airservices Australia's Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS) at airservicesaustralia.com or by phone on 1800 802 584. Air traffic control is a federal Airservices Australia responsibility, not the airport's. Three official noise monitors at Lennox Head, Lynwood and Tucki Tucki are being established to baseline conditions, and Airservices has committed to a formal review 12 months after the switch-on comparing modelled forecasts to actual flight data.
Is this the same as Gold Coast or Byron Bay airport?: No. This is Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (ICAO YBNA, code BNK), operated by Ballina Shire Council and located about 5 km from Ballina on the NSW Northern Rivers coast. It is the main air gateway for the Byron Bay region but is not in Byron Bay itself — Byron Bay has no airport — and it is a separate facility from Gold Coast Airport (YBCG/OOL) at Coolangatta further north.

Sources and further reading

Ballina Airport – Introduction of controlled airspace — Airservices Australia
Final flight path design for implementation — Airservices Australia
Improvements to Ballina airspace to come into effect — Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)
Aircraft Noise — "No Escape" for Some Ballina Residents — Ballina News Daily
Ballina Byron Gateway Airport — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
YBNA — Ballina/Byron Gateway Airport — SkyVector

Data updated 2026-10-08 — live ADS-B monitoring, rolling 30-day statistics (methodology). Article text revised 2026-06-12.

30 dB	Whisper
45 dB	Quiet residential
55 dB	Normal conversation
65 dB	Busy road
75 dB	Vacuum cleaner
85 dB	Heavy traffic
95 dB	Motorcycle nearby

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Ballina Flight Path Noise Map – Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK)

Aircraft noise around Ballina in October 2026

Does Ballina Airport have a curfew?

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Flight patterns and runway use

When is it quietest?

How to check noise at your specific address

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

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