Just to remind anyone who might be tempted to participate in the Phase II consultation on night flight restrictions, that the closing date is 31st January :https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/night-flightsOne of the things being considered is the level of control of the trials of additional night flights at Heathrow :"1.13 We are also taking this opportunity to clarify and bring up to date the 1999 guidelines which explain the circumstances in which the airports or the Secretary of State might disregard movements from the restrictions. In particular we wish to ensure that the guidelines facilitate possible future trials of operational procedures relevant to night flights, subject to advance notification of these trials. This would allow, for example, relevant proposals submitted to the Airports Commission to be trialled if the Commission were to recommend them."The Airports Commission did indeed recommend them in the Interim Report that appeared before Christmas :"Trials at Heathrow of measures to smooth the early morning arrival schedule to minimise stacking and delays and to provide more predictable respite for local people."https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271231/airports-commission-interim-report.pdfHeathrow's proposal was :"Putting an end to the routine use of both runways for arrivals between 06.00 and 07.003.15. This could be achieved by permitting an increased number of arrivals on one runway between 05.00 and 06.00. Rather than increasing the total number of flights, this would redistribute existing flights to deliver new periods of respite from early morning noise for local communities, while improving hub competitiveness by making more passenger connections viable.3.16. The demand for arrival capacity at the start of the operational day is such that the capacity of a single runway is insufficient to handle the traffic without unacceptably high levels of delay. This is initially caused by airborne holding in the stacks around Heathrow, and then quickly followed by ‘pre-departure’ delays incurred by aircraft inbound to Heathrow while still on the ground at the origination airport. Historically, we have used TEAM to offset delay by using the ‘departures’ runway for arrivals to the detriment of respite for communities beneath the approaches. This proposal would modify the early morning arrival traffic flow by enabling more arrivals in the 0500 hour to support international connectivity while also avoiding the use of TEAM until after 0700 hours to mitigate community disturbance."http://mediacentre.heathrowairport.com/ImageLibrary/downloadmedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=1457&SizeId=-1Considering the way the previous lot of Operational Freedom trials were carried out, I would be a happier if the Secretary of State imposed some checks and balances on Heathrow rather than a complete exemption for the trial period. Abuse by the airlines with hordes of planes arriving at 0500 might be an unintended consequence if there are no rules agreed beforehand !
Tim Henderson ● 4396d