Some good may yet come out of last week’s revelation that NATS (National Air Traffic Control) failed to tell Heathrow Airport about critical flight path changes.  Residents in the affected areas – Ascot, Binfield, Virginia Water and Bracknell – had consistently complained about the increase in flights over their areas.  Heathrow Airport admitted that trials had taken in 2014 but argued that now that the trials have finished, things have returned to normal.  However Heathrow issued a statement – COMPTON FINAL STATEMENT 17 March 14 – last week that it had not been told about an earlier 2014 change made by NATS which is still in place.  It means that planes are flying in more concentrated flight paths over the affected areas.

In a strong statement Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:  “I am very concerned that NATS made this change without informing the airport or affected communities about its potential impact, particularly given its effects on some of the same areas to the west of the airport that were affected by the airspace trials we ran last year. Because of the assurances we received, we in turn told residents in good faith that no changes had occurred.  That is unacceptable and I unequivocally apologise to local residents. At my request, the Chief Executive of NATS has agreed to urgently review his company’s processes to ensure that NATS shares this information with the airport to prevent this happening again in the future.”

Heathrow has asked NATS to revert to the pre-2014 flight paths but, so far, NATS has not done so.

Some scepticism has been expressed that Heathrow did not know about the NATS’ changes but retired flight path controllers have told HACAN that there is no reason why NATS should have told the Airport or even their own spokespeople.  As far as controllers were concerned, they were simply making an alteration to the route departing aircraft took above 8,000 feet in order to ensure more space between planes from Heathrow and those using Stansted and Luton.

This blunder can work in everybody’s favour if it acts as a wake-up call to NATS.  NATS technical staff have a superb record in ensuring flying is safe but the culture must change.  NATS needs to make sure all its staff are aware of the impact the changes they make will have on people on the ground and of the need to communicate any changes clearly to residents and airports.

But there is a more fundamental challenge for NATS.  It needs to come to accept that it cannot proceed with some of the changes it would like to make if they are going to have a noticeably adverse effect on local communities.  (The only exception to this would be if safety was seriously compromised).  This will require a deep change in the NATS mind-set.

A new approach from NATS is particularly important at a time when significant changes will be introduced to airspace and flight paths to allow for the effective use of new technology.  At Heathrow, the airport, local authorities, HACAN and others are working together to try to ensure the best all-round outcome.  There will need to be give and take from all bodies.  That must include NATS.

The most immediate gesture of good faith would be for NATS to reverse flight path changes they made in June 2014…..and to tell us all about it!

Night flights before 6am should come to an end if a third runway is ever built.  That is the view of Jock Lowe, the former Concorde pilot who heads up Heathrow Hub, the independent consortium proposing a new runway.  And he is right.

Night flights shouldn’t be allowed anyway.  And they are not needed.  A seminal report from the European Commission published in 2005 concluded:

“the argument for night flights seems to be basically commercially rather than operationally driven.”  European Commission Report 2005

But it argued that the airlines are able to avoid night flights (using any major airport in the world) by adjusting their schedules.

“If the same restrictions apply to all the competing airlines flying the European long-haul routes, they do seem to be able to adapt their schedules and get over slot availability, congestion, and connections, and fly by day.”  

Night flights are operated largely for the convenience of the airlines.  They will not ditch them voluntarily.  It requires Government action to force them to do so.

HACAN has long argued that night flights at Heathrow should become a thing of the past.  Well over half a million people living in and around London are overflown by night flights – more than any other city in Europe.  They should go in 2017 when the Government next considers the night regime.

But any plan for a 3^rd runway should assume no flights before 6am.  It would be perfectly possible to accommodate the 16 flights that currently land pre-6am on the extra capacity provided by a new runway.

Aviation is an acquisitive industry.  It wants but is rarely prepared to give.  It wants a third runway at Heathrow above all else.  So what is it going to give residents?  No even a decent night’s sleep?

NATS airspace plans:  ‘probably the most important and far-reaching aviation announcement of the year’

Today’s announcement by National Air Traffic Control (NATS) that it proposes to reconfigure airspace could be more significant that any plans for a new runway.  ‘Airspace’ and ‘flight paths’ sound like a technical turn-off but, in my view, this is the most important and far-reaching aviation announcement of the year.

(http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/local/could-new-respite-routes-reduce-noise-for-people-living-under-gatwick-flight-paths-1-5584748#.Ul1Ccxa6zS4.twitter …)

Why?  It could be airport expansion by the backdoor in a big way as it might result in a 20% increase in the number of flights which can use existing runways.  And, if done badly, could generate the sort of huge popular protests that have taken place in Frankfurt since flight paths were changed to accommodate the new runway in 2011. 

Let me explain.  NAT’s proposals are part of the Single European Sky Agreement, known as SESAR.  SESAR aims to create much more coordination between the air traffic control systems of individual European countries.  These would increase efficiency and potentially cut CO2 emissions.

So far, so good.  But, according to the NATS report published today on the Gatwick airspace, it would enable a plane to land at Gatwick every minute.  Currently the gap between aircraft needs to be 90 seconds.  Without the hint of a second runway, this could increase capacity of the airport by around 20%.

But there is more.  NATS has said it will be revising all the take-off and landing routes.  That could mean some areas become free of planes while others are under a flight path for the first time.  And that’s where the protest will start.  People are more disturbed by planes when they’ve never had them before.  And they feel cheated because they can reasonably argue they never expected to be under a flight path.  It is this situation which has seen up to 5,000 people occupy the terminal in Frankfurt every Monday night ever since the fourth runway opened in 2011.

Potential noise ghettos

However, it could even be worse than this.  Increasingly, NATS has the computer technology to guide planes much more precisely.  This is why they are talking about having stacks in the sea and then guiding aircraft to the airport in one or two continuous paths.  That will relieve many people who currently get aircraft but it will be turning the new areas into noise ghettos.

Respite periods

NATS is aware of this and is talking about respite periods by varying the approach paths to airports (and the take-off routes).  That would be welcome but it still potentially leaves many communities experiencing a lot of aircraft noise for the first time.

NATS is also talking about quieter planes and steeper descent paths.  All very but I’m not sure they will be enough to stem the torrent of protest new flight paths will unleash.

A few years back NATS were badly hurt when they tried to vary flight paths around Luton and Stansted.  They backed off.  This time they are trying to still the protests about consulting on the concept of airspace changes first, long before publishing the new flight paths.

They are starting with Gatwick and London City but hope to cover the whole county by 2020, including Heathrow where, according to the European Commission, over 725,000 people leave under the flight paths.

The explosion waiting to happen could relegate the fight over a new runway in London and the South East.  And, nationwide, the streamlined system could significantly increase the number of planes using our airports.

The EU is giving NATS little choice but to try and introduce these changes.  But they are playing with very high stakes.  Get it wrong and they could be an explosion of protest across the UK.