NATS Airspace plan offsets noise with emissions

Date added: 21 February, 2008

21.2.2008   (Guardian)

Millions of people in London and south-east England will be spared a significant
increase in aircraft noise, but see no reduction in carbon dioxide emissions,
under Britain’s biggest airspace shake-up.

The national air traffic control company, Nats, today publishes proposals for
an airspace map to accommodate 100 million more airline passengers a year by 2014.
The changes will redraw the airspace above 12 million people and introduce three
new holding patterns for Luton and Stansted, as some homes near Britain’s busiest
airports see the number of aircraft over their roofs increasing by more than 10,000
flights a year.

“Overall the proposal is expected to make little difference to average fuel burn
through the region,” Nats said. The proposals cast doubt over a Nats target to
reduce by 10% the amount of  CO2 generated in British airspace by 2020.  Nats said
it had to make compromises to balance the aims of reducing aircraft noise, conserving
fuel and reducing delays.

Nats said the redrawn airspace map would reduce by 20% to 1.28 million the number
of people exposed to departing aircraft flying below 4,000ft, because planes taking
off from Heathrow, Luton, City, Stansted and Northolt airports would climb more
rapidly . This will reduce noise exposure, Nats said, but increase carbon dioxide
emissions because aircraft will have to use more power on take-off.

Householders in some London boroughs would see more than 7,000 extra flights
take off over their roofs by 2014, while in Hemel Hempstead the figure would exceed
15,000.

The proposals come a day after computer failure caused delays at Heathrow.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/21/transport

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Posted: Thursday, February 21st, 2008. Filed in General News.