More f lights over Britain in air traffic shake-up
THE number of planes flying into major airports is due to soar after the Government last night unveiled plans to ‘upgrade’ Britain’s skies.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling promised the biggest overhaul of airspace in more than half a century.
But the plans are likely to be resisted by campaigners and communities living near airports, who will be forced to put up with more aircraft overhead.
Under the proposals, satellite navigation technology will allow more aircraft to use the same flight path, and stick more closely to it. Air traffic
‘Modernisation is overdue’
controllers will be able to track planes for longer, ensuring they can regulate the space between planes and instruct pilots to slow down if necessary.
Currently planes are led by ground beacons, which space out planes over an arc several miles. But the outdated technology means queues often form. In a speech to airline bosses, Mr Grayling said the shakeup would increase capacity, reduce delays, speed up journeys and reduce emissions. Describing British airspace as a ‘critical piece of national infrastructure’, he said it has also become ‘increasingly congested and modernisation is overdue’.
A report prepared for the airports commission estimated that up to 365,000 people suffered significant aircraft noise near 18 major airports. Many more are affected by lower level noise, with 725,000 affected by aircraft at Heathrow.
But Mr Grayling said the technology could reduce noise problems by preventing ‘stacking’ – the equivalent of traffic jams – whereby aircraft are forced to circle an airport at low levels. He added: ‘While modern aircraft are fitted with the latest satellite navigation technology, most of our airspace arrangements are half a century old. I know how frustrated you and your passengers are by the delays this causes. And I recognise the damage it does to your businesses. Without action, flight delays will increase enormously in the next few years.
‘This wouldn’t just be damaging for passengers, but also for the economy and the environment.’
Analysis by National Air Traffic Services (NATS) for the DfT has predicted total delays due to air traffic management could jump 72-fold to 4.4million minutes – or 3,100 days – by the end of the next decade.
It found that at least a quarter of flights would be delayed by 30 minutes or more by 2030 without reforms as Britain’s skies become increasingly overcrowded.
The UK handled over 250million passengers in 2015, with the population also growing by more than ten million over the past fifty years.
A NATS spokesman said: ‘Our airspace has little changed in over 50 years and is in urgent need of modernisation. Imagine the road network of the 1960s trying to cope with today’s road traffic levels.’