Future direction of 42 per cent of Gatwick's western take-offs to be decided
The deadline to have your say on flight paths over East Surrey is looming.
Gatwick Airport has upgraded navigation systems on its departure routes – from ground based to satellites across its primary take off paths.
All but one of the nine now uses this new standard with just the westerly route that takes off over Capel before banking right for a 180 degree turn towards Reigate remaining.
The consultation is seeking public opinion on how this should be managed – with some routes concentrating flights into a narrower corridor while others spread them over a wider distance.
The first two options closely follow existing routing, the third introduces a much dispersion in the turn as possible – inline with feedback received in earlier consultations with the planes converting back into a single route near Sidlow and Salfords.
Option D, the airport’s preference has the tightest turn and forecast to have the least environmental harm – or as Gatwick described it, the greatest potential environmental benefits.
This is due to the decreased noise and reduction in fuel burn and CO2 emissions. On this basis option b is the second best followed by A and D.
Spreading the aircraft would increase the number of homes under flightpaths, but give more respite for those under them.
A tighter flightpath would result in fewer homes being affected but more planes over the areas covered.
The route is already being used and last year carried about 42 per cent of westerly take offs.
Due to the congested nature of airspace over Gatwick, Surrey and London, some planes already fly above Route 4 – the impact is that planes along Route 4 often have to fly at a lower altitude for a longer period.
The consultation has been running for 14-weeks with the deadline for communities and stakeholders set for Tuesday, April 28.
The reintroduction of satellite-based navigation is essential as ground-based infrastructure is being phased out as part of a national modernisation programme.
Residents and stakeholders should provide feedback via the website: route4acp.co.uk
Gatwick will also accept postal responses to: ‘Freepost ROUTE 4 CONSULTATION’. The deadline for providing feedback is 11.59pm on Tuesday, April 28.
A consultation report will be submitted alongside the final proposal.