Australia Proposes Temporary Restricted Areas NIMBUS and CIRRUS West of Brisbane for 23-27 November 2026 RAAF Exercise
Why It MattersShort-duration military restricted areas near a major capital city show how exercise airspace is traded against civil route structures, with the burden landing on diversion planning rather than on the exercise itself.
What happened
The Joint Airspace Coordination Cell (JACC) is seeking feedback on proposed temporary restricted areas (TRAs) and procedures for TRA 'NIMBUS' and TRA 'CIRRUS'. Elements of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will conduct training exercises in the last week of November 2026, and the two TRAs are proposed to safely separate civil aircraft from fast jet activity from RAAF Amberley, Queensland, over 23-27 November 2026.
The conditional status of the TRAs west of RAAF Amberley will be RA2. Indicative timings are listed in the proposal, with specific activation times to be promulgated by AIP SUP and NOTAM.
The proposal affects ATS routes passing west of Brisbane, so diversion routing will be required during the periods of temporary airspace activation. Those diversion routes are to be developed in consultation with Airservices Australia and published in the AIP SUP.
During NOTAM activation periods, non-exercise aircraft will not have access to TRA 'NIMBUS' or TRA 'CIRRUS'. Exceptions apply to exercise participants, aircraft with a declared emergency or radio failure, and aircraft engaged in operations for the preservation of life and property (SAR, MED, POL or FFR).
Industry impact & what to watch
Temporary restricted areas of this kind work as a scheduled trade between military training needs and civil route structure. The exercise gets segregated airspace for a defined week, and the cost is carried by civil traffic on affected ATS routes, which must be rerouted rather than cleared through the area. For business aviation, the practical effect is on flight planning: routes west of Brisbane that are normally available will not be usable while a TRA is active, and the activation windows are not fixed in advance but set by NOTAM.
The consultation stage is where the details get settled. The diversion routes are still to be developed with Airservices Australia, and the final activation times will only appear in the AIP SUP and NOTAM. Operators with flights planned across that part of Queensland between 23 and 27 November will find the answers to how much added distance and time the diversions carry in those publications, not in the proposal itself.
