TagFlow(22)

These flight track maps from the Port of Seattle show aircraft arrival, departure, and overflight paths at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 1–2, 2018. On March 1, the airport operated predominantly in South Flow (87% of operations, 953 flights), with a brief period of North Flow (13%, 145 flights); on March 2, all 1,118 operations were conducted entirely in South Flow. The maps illustrate how flight corridors shift direction depending on the flow configuration, affecting which surrounding communities—such as those north of the airport near Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace versus those to the south near Auburn and Pacific—experience the greatest noise exposure.

This document outlines flight procedures for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) designed to reduce noise impacts on surrounding communities, covering both North Flow and South Flow operations. Key rules include restrictions on eastbound turns during nighttime hours (10 p.m.–6 a.m.), minimum altitude and distance requirements before turning, and designated corridors for arrivals and departures over Puget Sound and Elliott Bay. Compliance data from March 2012 shows that 89 out of 2,431 daytime South Flow eastbound arrivals turned south of the 520 Bridge early, violating the preferred procedure, with Alaska Airlines (ASA) and Southwest Airlines (SWA) accounting for the largest shares of non-compliant flights.