London City airport – there may be a consultation about…
There is speculation about London City airport consulting about changing the times on Saturday afternoons, when the airport is open. However, local group Hacan East says that, as far as they know, Newham Council has made no official announcement about the start of the public consultation into London City’s expansion plans, but they will be contacting the Council (10th February) to find out the position. The expectation is that instead of flights ending at 1pm on Saturdays, they would continue until 8.30pm. This would be deeply opposed by residents in the area, who suffer from considerable plane noise. It is thought that the airport applied for this, to Newham Council, in December. City Airport previously tried to extend Saturday flight times to 22:00, but backtracked after a public consultation in late 2022. 70% of responses to that consultation opposed any expansion. The airport also wants 12 extra Saturday flights between 18:30 and 19:30 in the summer months, and 3 more planes taking off each morning. And it hopes to increase the yearly cap on passengers from 6.5 million to 9 million. .Tweet London City Airport: Consultation on extra flights 10th February 2023By Josh Mellor, LDRS (Local Guardian) There is nothing on the London City Airport website about this consultation – so it may not b e happening, though the papers think it is …. (AW comment) London City Airport is consulting east Londoners until the end of the month on its plans to introduce thousands of extra flights on Saturday afternoons. In December, the airport submitted an application to Newham Council proposing to extend its Saturday cut-off time for flights from 1pm to 6:30pm. The plans also include twelve Saturday flights allowed between 6:30pm and 7:30pm during the summer months. City Airport has now backtracked on proposals to extend Saturday flight times to 10pm following public consultation it carried out last year. Although the airport admitted local communities have “legitimate concerns” about noise, it is still proposing to extend Saturday flight times by up to seven hours. A report on their previous consultation, which received more than 5,000 responses, said their new proposals “balance” public concerns with the “operational and business needs” of the airport and its airlines. The overwhelming concerns for most people were the effect extra flights would have on noise, air quality and climate change. The report showed that 70% of people commenting online did not support passenger increases “at all”. Taking into account the views of people consulted at “events” and passengers travelling through the airport, 40% did not support any passenger increase. Although the airport is not proposing to increase its 111,000 annual flight limit, it is hoping to increase the annual cap on passengers from 6.5million to 9million. By comparison, in 2019, it saw about 84,000 flights on its runways, carrying a total of 5.1 million passengers. Other proposals include allowing nine planes to take off or land between 6:30am and 6:59am each morning, an increase of three. Flights taking off from City Airport often travel over East London areas such as Bow and Poplar, Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Barkingside and Romford. Changes to London’s multiple flight paths in 2016 led to some Leyton residents complaining of “horrendous” noise levels because they are often also below flights travelling to Heathrow. London City Airport has promised to only use “cleaner, quieter, new generation” aircraft during the extended hours. But campaigner group HACAN East, set up to oppose the airport’s expansion, argue that these aircraft are only quieter during take-off because they rise at a “steeper angle”, with less noticeable improvements to noise during the rest of the flight. New
