OFFICIAL

Office of General Counsel
Ms Cathy Minnucci
GPO Box 367
CANBERRA CITY   ACT   2601

By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
www.airservicesaustralia.com

ABN 59 698 720 886
Dear Ms Minnucci

FOI 25-20 - Decision on Access

I refer to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to
Airservices Australia (Airservices).

Your original request was received on 15 April 2025 but was not considered a valid request as it
did not provide such information as is reasonably necessary to enable us to identify the documents
requested (section 15(2)(b)) of the FOI Act).

Through various email correspondence with you we agreed to the following revised scope that
complies with the formal requirements of the FOI Act (section 15(3) of the FOI Act):

Seeking copies of:

1.  the Hobart RWY30 and RWY12 departing and arriving flight path map that were in
place prior to the flight path changes implemented in September 2017; and
2.  the current (2025) Hobart RWY30 and RWY12 departing and arriving flight path
map.

Where ‘flight path map’ is a google earth image overlaid with departing and arrival flight
paths.

Due to an Airservices outlook mailbox technical error, we did not receive your follow up email
where you agreed to the revised scope. Despite this error, we are stil  required to commence the
processing clock the day after the email is recorded as having been received in our outlook
mailbox i.e. 30 April 2025, which gave us a decision due date of 30 May 2025. This decision has
been made after the relevant due date.

I am authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act and the Airservices Instrument of Delegation and
Authorisation to make decisions on primary requests under the FOI Act.

Decision

Part 1 - Access refused

I have decided to refuse access to the document sought by part 1 of the request under section 24A
of the FOI Act on the basis the document being sought does not exist.

Statement of Reasons

An agency may refuse a request if it has taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to find the document
requested and is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist (section 24A(1)).

There are two elements that must be established before an agency can refuse a request for
access to a document under s 24A:
•  the agency must have taken all reasonable steps to find the document, and

OFFICIAL

•  the agency is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist.

We liaised with the relevant business area regarding part 1 of the revised scope who confirmed:
  a)  prior to the introduction of the new integrated Standard Arrival Routes (STAR) and
Standard Instrument Departure (SID) flight paths in September 2017, no arrival and
departure flight paths were specified at Hobart Airport. Instead, aircraft movement and
tracking were managed and amended tactically by traffic control depending on the traffic
mix and weather conditions etc; and
b)  overlaid images of the proposed flight paths were produced in 2017 and included pre-
September 2017 aircraft arrival and departure operations based on aircraft
tracking/movement data available at the time, however, the aircraft tracking/movement data
does not represent specified flight paths. To il ustrate this point, please refer to Document
1 provided with this decision where the magenta and blue lines represent the proposed
flight paths, and the red and green lines represent the actual arrival and departure
operations tracked for 1-7 February 2017.

Based on the above reasoning, I am satisfied we have taken all reasonable steps to find the
document and that no document or overlaid image exists. There is also no manner in which we
could refine Part 1 of the scope any further that would enable us to locate relevant documents.

Part 2 - Access in full

I have decided to grant access to the document sought by part 2 of the request in full (referred to
as Document 2 in this decision).

Document 2 is a google earth image overlaid with the current Hobart Airport arrival and departure
flight paths for RWY30 and RWY12 (i.e. flight path maps) and is titled ‘Hobart Airport – Standard
Arrival Routes (STAR), Standard Instrument Departure (SID) and Visual Arrival Routes’.

Date of flight path map

The reason Document 2 includes a reference to ‘Current flight paths as of November 2019’ is due
to the fact there have been no changes to the Hobart Airport flight paths since the flight path
changes introduced in November 2019 following the Hobart Airspace Design Review.

As such, any Hobart Airport flight path map provided from 2019 onwards, regardless of the date
published, remains current until notice of any further changes.

International flights not following flight path map

International aircraft utilise the same flight paths to and from Hobart Airport as domestic aircraft
and connect at various waypoints to and from the enroute network in their direction of travel. In
some instances, international aircraft may not connect directly with the flight paths indicated on the
flight path map (e.g. due to the direction of the aircraft’s approach or departure, weather conditions
etc) and are tactically managed by air traffic control by being told to track towards a compass
heading in their direction of travel. This may appear an ‘ad hoc route’.

Review rights and complaints

Information about your rights of review and how you can make a complaint about the handling of
your request is at Attachment A.

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Contact

If you wish to discuss my decision, please contact me at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.

Yours sincerely,

Digitally signed by
BOURGET_ BOURGET_MR
MR
Date: 2025.06.05
11:38:15 +10'00'

Marcus Bourget
Authorised FOI Decision Maker

5 June 2025

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ATTACHMENT A

INFORMATION ON REVIEW RIGHTS

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) gives you the right to apply for a review of this
decision via:

(a)
an internal review; or
(b)
the Australian Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner).

Internal review

We have not provided this decision within the relevant statutory processing timeframe and therefore
you are not able to apply for internal review. You do, however, retain the right to seek a review of the
decision by the Information Commissioner.

Information Commissioner review
You can opt to instead seek external review by the Information Commissioner. To seek review you
must apply to the Information Commissioner within 60 days of the receipt of this decision letter.
Further details on this process can be found on their website at ht ps://www.oaic.gov.au/.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner concerning action taken by an agency in
the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is no fee for
making a complaint. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing. Further
details on this process can be found on their website at https:/ www.oaic.gov.au/.

Document Outline