Quicker flights promised in flight path shake-up

Plans to fast-track the remodelling of the UK’s flight paths could lead to shorter journey times, fewer delays, and more flights for passengers, the government says.

The transport department said the UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS) will re-design the routes planes must take over UK airspace – many of which were decided around 70 years ago.

The initial shake-up will focus on the complex airspace in and around London, although any changes are not expected to come into effect for some years.

However, environmental group Friends of the Earth said redesigning flight paths would “expose even more communities to noise and air pollution”.

Ministers say the plans could allow planes to climb quicker during take off and descend more smoothly.

Helping to reduce aviation’s climate change impacts and pave the way for new technologies such as flying taxis is another goal of the planned changes.

“Modernising our airspace is also one of the simplest ways to help reduce pollution from flying and will set the industry up for a long-term, sustainable future,” said Aviation Minister Mike Kane.

The changes would be the largest to UK airspace since it was first designed in the 1950s, at which time there were only around 200,000 flights a year. Last year, there were about 2.7 million flights in UK airspace.

Tim Keevil from Basingstoke, who travels abroad 10 to 12 times a year, says Heathrow should have been expanded 30 years ago.

He told the BBC the airport is “undersized and understaffed” and a “national embarrassment”.

But Dr Alan Lafferty has lived in his Chiswick home for 43 years and says planes landing at Heathrow are already noisy enough. He fears that new flight paths will make the situation worse for him and his wife.

“Planes landing at Heathrow already fly close enough to hear them drown everything out. Any closer would be a nightmare,” he told the BBC.