Airservices Australia acknowledged errors in its handling of flight path information affecting Brisbane residents during a federal Senate Estimates hearing on Monday. The agency admitted it had incorrectly identified the location of Tingalpa State School on flight path maps, causing confusion about aircraft noise exposure for the school’s approximately 450 students.

Liberal Senator Paul Scarr pressed Airservices executives over the mix-up, highlighting that the school had been misrepresented as being outside of noise-impacted zones. The map used in correspondence with concerned residents showed a location some distance from the actual school, which is situated directly beneath concentrated flight paths involving an average of 56 daily flights generating noise levels exceeding 70 decibels.

Jacqui O’Dea, Airservices chief risk officer, confirmed she had never visited the suburb of Tingalpa and mistakenly relied on a map marker that actually indicated a nearby KFC outlet rather than the school. “It was genuinely an error,” O’Dea said, apologizing for the mistake. The mislocation led to communication with residents suggesting their concerns about aircraft noise near the school were unfounded.

Senator Scarr questioned the accuracy and reliability of Airservices’ management of aircraft noise given such fundamental errors. “That is not merely a typographical or cartographical mistake. It goes to the very heart of the issue,” he said. O’Dea acknowledged Tingalpa State School is indeed beneath concentrated flight paths, contradicting previous official advice.

Rob Sharp, Airservices chief executive, expressed regret over the mistake and the impact on community trust. He described the error as undermining confidence in the agency and said he empathized with the frustration experienced by local residents. Although he lives in Brisbane, Sharp said he had not personally visited the area. He pledged to review internal processes to prevent similar issues from recurring.

The hearing also revealed discrepancies between Airservices’ earlier projections of aircraft noise events and current data. An environmental impact assessment published in July 2025 anticipated between 10 and 20 noise events per day above 70 decibels around the area, but monitoring from September 2025 to August 2026 showed an average of 56 such events daily. O’Dea pointed out that modeling can be imprecise and that multiple changes to Brisbane’s airspace since the original assessment could explain the higher figures.

Since the opening of Brisbane Airport’s parallel runway in 2020, residents near the flight paths have raised ongoing concerns about increased aircraft noise. Matt Lovell, spokesman for the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance, criticized Airservices for the school location error, calling it evidence of “incompetency and lack of governance” within the agency. He emphasized that affected communities are seeking relief from noise, not further consultations.