Two new holding zones for aircraft flying into London airports have been proposed - and two others moved ” in plans to redistribute air traffic over the capital and south east region to cope with the projected huge growth in aviation.
A population of around 12.5m lives under the Terminal Control North airspace, which is being remapped by the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in what it says is a move to decrease noise pollution, congestion and delays, thereby minimising the amount of wasted fuel burnt by aircraft waiting in stacks.
The proposal states: ”Routes below 4,000ft (1,220m) have generally been positioned to avoid flying over sizeable population centres. Between 4,000ft and 7,000ft, we have tried to balance the demands of mitigating noise and reducing fuel burn and emissions. Above 7,000ft, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing emissions has taken priority.
”It is impossible for routes to avoid every village, town and city - and where we avoid some we inevitably have to fly over others.”
Shifting these routes towards the countryside will particularly affect Essex and East Hertfordshire ” Luton departures will fly over the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - but other areas covered in the report include Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, West and North West London and East London.
”Overall we will reduce by some 20% the number of people affected by noise from departing aircraft flying below 4,000ft,” said NATS director of operations Ian Hall. ”All these airports have grown considerably in the past 20 years and we have simply accommodated this growth within the existing airspace infrastructure
”Just like bottlenecks on our roads, increased air traffic causes congestion in the airways meaning delay and extra fuel burn. Redrawing the routes enables us to make them more efficient and gives us the opportunity to reroute them to avoid flying over as many towns and villages as possible, especially at lower levels.”
There are changes to the locations of two holding stacks for Luton and Stansted, and an extra one will be created for the latter which will mean continuous descent approaches - where aircraft stay higher for longer, reducing fuel burn and noise for people on the ground - can be introduced for Stansted's easterly runway. A new hold is also proposed for arrivals to London City, but Heathrow”s remain unchanged.
”More and more people want to fly and our job is to make sure they can do so safely and without delay,” added Hall.
Consultation runs until 22 May and a feedback form is available at www.consultation.nats.co.uk for people to register views. All feedback received during this period will be ”analysed and summarised in a report” to be published on the NATS website by 22 June with changes will come into effect from March 2009.
This feedback will also be submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority.