The City of Busselton currently operates the Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport (situated on Vasse Highway, Busselton) that allows for general aviation and closed charter fly-in fly-out operations.
The City of Busselton is proposing to extend, widen and strengthen the existing runway and associated infrastructure of the Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport. This is a revised proposal to the current environmental approval under Ministerial Statement No. 1009. As a part of this revised proposal the City of Busselton is seeking to:
- Modify the existing Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport operations to allow additional aircraft operations to Code 4C jet aircraft, such as Boeing 737-800 and Airbus 320-200.
- Change the standard hours of operation. This would involve a change to the current Noise Management Plan (2015) required by Condition 4 of Ministerial Statement No. 1009. This management plan defines the standard hours of operation for each aircraft type and outlines criterion for the implementation of noise amelioration measures.
During this assessment, the proposal was changed under s.43A of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 to remove the runway extension, widening and strengthening component. These elements are defined in Schedule 1 of Ministerial Statement 901 relating to Busselton Regional Aerodrome - Inquiry under s46 to amend Ministerial Statements 399, 825, 856, 878, and 887 and, as such, a section 45C change to Ministerial Statement 901 has been approved for the construction elements relating to the extension, widening and strengthening of the runway.