Heathrow Airport clear winner of Noise Olympics!

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Heathrow was the clear winner of the Noise Olympics staged this morning by campaign group HACAN in Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith (1).  The airport received its medal, in the form of golden ear-defenders, from the local MP Andy Slaughter.  The silver went to Frankfurt and the bronze to Charles De Gaulle.  Gatwick trailed badly to finish in last position.
Heathrow won the race because it overflies more people than any other airport in Europe.  According to European Commission figures over 725,000 residents are overflown which is 28% of all people in Europe disturbed by aircraft noise (2).
HACAN chair John Stewart said, “This was a fun way of showing that Heathrow is already in a noise league of its own.  Residents are very worried what a third runway with an extra 250,000 flights a year will mean.”

ENDS

 Notes for Editors:

(1). The Noise Olympics.

Date: 18th August

Time:  11am

Venue: Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith

Event:  A 100 metres race, 8 runners (representing the 7 European airports which overfly most people plus Gatwick), each wearing t-shirts

 (2). The European league tables (as produced by the European Commission)

European table (top 20)

Airport Population within 55Lden contour
Heathrow 725,000
Frankfurt 238,700
Paris Charles de Gaulle 170,000
Lisbon 150,000
Paris Orly 110,000
Manchester 90,000
Naples 80,000
Milan Linato 70,000
Glasgow 63,600
Hamburg 50,000
Brussels 49,700
Birmingham 47,900
Stuttgart 44,000
Schipol Amsterdam 43,700
Valencia 43,000
Warsaw 43,000
Bergamo 43,000
Madrid 43,000
Milan Malpensa 43,000
Toulouse 42,000

Gatwick is well outside the top 20 with 11,900 overflown. That would rise to a total of 37,000 if a second runway was built.

For further information:

John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650