An air‐lift sidestream polymeric multi‐tube membrane module has been investigated to compare the hydraulic performance of an MBR challenged with municipal wastewater and landfill leachate. In both cases the MBRs were operated under the same conditions of membrane aeration rate and sludge retention time, but with hydraulic retention time for the leachate set by scoping trials based on porous pots to 48 hours. Operation under conventional continuous aeration conditions yielded critical flux values, based on classical flux step experiments, of 36–42 l m hr for the sewage‐fed trial compared with ∼24 l m hr for the leachate‐fed trial. Substantial improvements in operating flux, between 20 and 100%, were obtained when operating with air pulsing (1s on/s off). Intermittent operation under more conventional conditions (5s on/5s off) yielded no improvement.