Over 700,000 Flights Could Use Heathrow
A new report from the CAA has revealed that within 15 years more than 700,000 flights could be using Heathrow each year. Up from 465,000 at present. The report estimates that if a 3rd runway were to be built and runway alternation came to an end, there would 735,000 flights using the airport each year. The report admits that this could mean over 800,000 people experiencing noise levels above the standard recommended by the World Health Organisation.
The report, which was compiled for the Department for Transport last Autumn but only recently made public by the Government, has shocked anti-noise campaigners.
John Stewart, Chair of HACAN ClearSkies, said, “Less than a year ago we were told that a 3rd runway would mean a total of 655,000 flights at Heathrow. Now the figure is 700,000. No wonder the Government was so reluctant to release this report.”
Stewart added, “It makes a mockery of the Government’s promise in 2001 to cap the number of flights at 480,000. The Government says one thing in public while planning something very different in private.”
Notes for Editors
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The report, which in theory accompanied the White Paper in December but in reality only became public very recently, was produced by the CAA for the DfT (ECRU Report 0308 — Revised Future Aircraft Noise Exposure Estimates for UK Airports, by D P Rhodes). It came up with revised estimates for the number of flights that could use Heathrow with a 3rd runway in place. It estimates that with a 3rd runway in place, and mixed-mode operating between 7am and 5pm, the number of flights at Heathrow each year by 2015 would be 735,000. This figure is quite different from the figure used in the SERAS consultation document (which formed the basis of the consultation on the Government proposals for airport expansion prior to the publication of its Aviation White Paper on 16th December last year).
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SERAS said that, by 2015, with a 3rd runway there would be a total of 655,000 flights at Heathrow each year;
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Without a 3rd runway, the number would be 480,000 (the cap recommended by the T5 inspector and agreed in 2001 by the Government). Currently around 465,00 flights use Heathrow each year.
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This new CAA document, says that a 3rd runway would mean 700,000 flights each year.
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Add that to the DfT’s estimate that the introduction of mixed-mode operations between 7am and 5pm would mean an extra 35,000 flights per year.
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The CAA report estimates that all this would mean that just over 800,000 people would experience noise levels above World Health Organisation recommended levels by 2015, up from around 600,000 today.
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The White Paper put plans for a 3rd runway at Heathrow on the back-burner until at least 2015 because of problems with air pollution around the airport.
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The White Paper announced that it would investigating the ending of runway alternation at Heathrow. Runway alternation means that planes landing over London land on one of Heathrow’s runways between 7am and 3pm, before switching to the other runway which they use from 3pm — 11.30pm. So, for example, if planes land on the northern runway between 7am and 3pm, they will take-off during those hours on the southern runway. At 3pm, they will switch round. Runway alternation only benefits those people in West London who live under the final flight paths in Heathrow, ie the area from about Putney/Barnes westwards. There is no runway alternation when the planes approach over Berkshire (on the days an east wind is blowing) because planes are not permitted by the Cranford Agreement to take off eastwards from the northern runway. There is no runway alternation at all between 6am and 7am, when both runways are used for landing aircraft. Mixed-mode is the opposite of runway alternation.
For further information contact John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957 385650.