If you thought the sound of passenger jets roaring into Sydney Airport an hour before the curfew time of 6am was just a horrible nightmare – you are wrong.

During the Australian winter months, while many crave a little extra morning sleep-in – three international airlines are being allowed to land passenger jets every day of the week in the hour before the curfew is lifted.

Airlines are doing their utmost to pocket the gains from cheaper fuel and weaker competition on international and domestic routes Credit:Andrew Meares

The airlines getting the favourable treatment, Qantas, British Airways and Singapore Airlines are allowed to land between 5am and 6am, the so-called shoulder period – because of the northern hemisphere summer and the curfews at airports including Heathrow – even though those aircraft stop at other airports en route to Sydney.

Twenty-one flights a week will be landing before 6am until October – and residents in the surrounding area fear there is a push by airline operators to allow more aircraft to take advantage of the 5am to 6am shoulder time slot.