Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of night flights to and from Heathrow Airport.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Along with Gatwick and Stansted, the Government sets night flight restrictions at Heathrow, using its powers under s.78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.
These restrictions limit the number of flights between the hours of 23.30 and 06.00 that can take place during a particular season – there are two seasons per annum, winter and summer, which coincide with the use of Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time. Heathrow is limited to 5,800 flights a year during these hours, which translates in to an average of 16 flights per night. Due to a voluntary agreement which prevents scheduled movements before 04.30, most of these flights are from aircraft arriving between the hours of 04.30 and 06.00. It should be noted that these restrictions do not preclude additional aircraft from operating at Heathrow during the night period in the case of emergencies or severe disruption.
As well as limiting the number of movements allowed within an airline season, these restrictions place requirements on the aircraft that can operate during the night period, and place seasonal limits on the amount of noise energy that can be emitted at Heathrow. Aircraft are certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) according to the noise they produce and the higher the band an aircraft is certified as the higher quota amount it uses with each movement. The Government has also prohibited the noisiest types of aircraft from using the airport during the night. QC/4 aircraft are not allowed to be scheduled during the night quota period (2330 to 0600), and the highest rated QC/8 and QC/16 aircraft are prevented from operating at all during the entire night period (2300 to 0700).
The Government will begin consulting next year on a new nights flight regime which will take effect from October 2017.
