The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife residents furious as flight path changes submitted for approval.
Bosses accused of dismissing the views of residents
Edinburgh Airport has been accused of dismissing the views of residents as it stuck to its proposal for a new flight path over Fife.
The controversial E7a route, one of eight proposed, would guide aircraft over towns and villages including Dalgety Bay.
More than two-thirds of the 1,100 responses received during a third round of public consultation were from people in Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing and North Queensferry.
The airport has announced it has submitted its plan to the Civil Aviation Authority for approval.
As the preferred option, E7a would have aircraft make a 20-degree turn at the end of the runway when departing to the east, before heading towards the west of Cramond and along the Firth of Forth. Those against the proposal say it would bring planes closer to residential areas and noise levels would be unacceptable.
The airport said it would end nighttime flying between 11pm and 6am.
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Lesley Laird, whose constituency is affected, said: “It’s hugely disappointing that despite overwhelming opposition from the community, Edinburgh Airport has decided to carry on regardless with this flight path.
“I’m sure residents who took time to engage with the consultation will be left wondering if there ever was any real, genuine will to listen to their concerns.”
Green MSP Mark Ruskell called for a halt to the proposal.
He said: “For the third time, local residents in North Queensferry, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay have made it very clear to Edinburgh Airport that they do not want their communities to suffer the constant disturbance new flight paths will bring.
“And once again Edinburgh Airport has ignored these wishes and pressed on with plans regardless.
“It seems they had no intention to listen to local people and the latest consultation was a cynical exercise to tick boxes ahead of resubmitting their plans for approval.”
Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “Vast growth at the airport as well as the change in technology means we need to modernise our airspace to meet current and future demand, and it is a process many airports are looking at.
“Our approach at Edinburgh Airport must be one that is balanced between the needs of the airport, and the economy and customers we serve, as well as those of our neighbouring communities – we believe our proposals do that.
“Although there was no requirement to consult, we wanted to go back to our communities to listen to their valued feedback and understand their concerns.
“They were part of a wider conversation with our airlines and other partners who all have an interest in this process and our proposals take into account all of that dialogue.”
The airport’s airspace was designed in the 1970s when the airport had around one million passengers per year.
It now deals with 13.4 million passengers per year.
The revised route was proposed after earlier flight path proposals were sent back by the Civil Aviation Authority.
A report detailing the rationale behind the resubmitted proposal will be published later this month.