London Luton Airport (LLA) is proposing to change its flight path and holding area for flights arriving at the airport, and is asking residents in South Cambridgeshire to comment on its proposals. A number of questions come to mind.
Why is this important to you and me?
The answer is in the map below. As you will see dotted in purple, most of the southern part of South Cambridgeshire District area is within the area that LLA propose for flight stacking for arriving planes at below 8000ft. The area in dotted brown is for flight stacking at 8000ft, whilst the area dotted in black is proposed to be used to stack at above 8000ft.
The villages in Caldecote Ward, and many others in the district may be affected by this change. It may mean that flight stacking results in a rise in aircraft noise levels as they make their way from the stack to the airport, causing noise pollution for residents below. This will no doubt depend on the type of aircraft and the actual height at which the airplanes are travelling.
Why is this change necessary?
The airport says that today’s airspace around London Luton (LLA) and London Stansted (LSA) airports has not changed despite growth in recent years. The two airports currently share arrival routes and the same two flight stacking holds, which is unique in the UK for two such major airports. Therefore, if there is an arrival delay or disruption at one airport, this can cause unnecessary arrival delay to the other, impacting the travelling public and local communities.
LLA have produced an executive summary of their proposals here. There are also a range of other supporting documents on the consultation website, for those who want more information.
The proposals for change involve separating Luton’s arrivals flightpaths from Stansted’s paths, and establishing a new flight stacking hold for Luton. This the airport says will
- Reduce the complexities that the air controllers have to manage
- Reduces delays to passengers
- Help the airport to safely meet projected demands in the future. Including the future after the covid19 pandemic is over
The new stack itself is proposed to be above St Neots and the Paxtons. The approaches to the airport will be via two options, a Westerly operations (aircraft approach Luton from the West of the airport) and Easterly Operations where the approach is from the East into Luton airport.
With the Westerly operations, the route for descent into Luton may likely affect parts of Bourn, Longstowe and Little Gransden. For the Easterly operations, Little Gransden is the closest to the route option corridor.
So it may not be as bad as it first seems, but only you can determine that.
What should you do?
If you are concerned about the potential impact on your village, then I suggest you visit the consultation website at https://consultations.airspacechange.co.uk/london-luton-airport/ad6_luton_arrivals/. This site shows the plans in full and has a virtual exhibition and other tools to help you view how it will affect your village, if at all. There are also webinars that you can attend.
Do it now as the consultation closing date is 5 February 2021.
Please share this post with your friends and neighbours in the district. Thank you.