New briefings from Belfast City Airport Watch on noise and jobs at the airport
George Best Belfast City Airport and noise – the facts
Best Belfast City Airport has tripled over the past three years – and is now far
higher than at Gatwick or Stansted airports.
suffer from a level of aircraft noise deemed by the UK government to cause “significant
community annoyance” – compared to just 3,522 in 2007 (measured as 57 LAeq or
over, averaged over 16 hours)
and just 3,600 experience this level of noise near Gatwick, according to figures
from the Department for Transport.
Airport suffer aircraft noise at a higher level than that recommended by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) – compared to 12,084 in 2007. (This is the number who
experience noise at 54 LAeq or over, averaged over 16 hours – in fact, WHO recommends
a level no more than 50 LAeq but that level is not measured by the consultants’
reports).
area alone are affected by aircraft noise linked to the City Airport.
that there was a 40% increase in the number of late flights at the airport last
year, compared to the previous year.
1.4 late flights per day – despite the fact that government regulations stipulate
that late flights should only occur “in exceptional circumstances”. This compares
to 359 late flights in 2009.
for routine reasons that could not possibly constitute ‘exceptional circumstances’.
June 2011
by the airport and made available to the Airport Forum. The statistics on late
flights were provided by the airport to the Airport Forum.
2. The government’s guidance on aircraft noise levels is available at:
at:
at:
for Transport reports, published in January 2011 and covering 2009 (see 3.1 in
each report).
o Stansted:
This is an agreement between the Department of the Environment and the Airport.
The current Agreement came into force on 14th October 2008. The Agreement also
included a cap on the number of seats offered for sale (essentially a limit on
passengers). However, this was removed by the Environment Minister in December
2010.
6. BCAW’s own calculation of the number of residents affected by aircraft noise
is based on population figures in the relevant council wards, and our estimate
of the proportion likely to be affected in each ward, based on flight path maps.
George Best Belfast City Airport and jobs – the facts
figures are based, in part, on speculation, and the number of local people directly
employed is tiny.
body, reveal that, of the 90 people it directly employs:
• A further 6 live in south Belfast while 10 are from north Down
figure, it provided figures revealing that its total includes an unproven assumption
that 570 jobs are created or induced indirectly by the airport’s activities.
the airport’s own Citylife magazine welcoming the bmibaby airline to the airport
with the words:
who rely on the airport’s success.”
employees) to employment which is based either within the airport or within a
20-minute drive of it, and which is ‘wholly or largely’ related to the airport’s
operations. The airport keeps no record of where the individuals holding those
jobs live, other than those it employs directly.
June 2011
of occasions, most recently in its own Citylife magazine – see:
, at the request of a residents’ association. It is contained in two documents
circulated to the Airport Forum.