HC Deb 13 February 2002 vol 380 cc384-5W
Mr. Wray

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions which civilian airports in the UK service large aircraft with more than four flights in an hour. [34631]

Mr. Jamieson

There is no standard definition of a large aircraft. Four flights an hour corresponds approximately to 25,000 flights annually. The latest available figures are for the year to end October 2001. Those UK airports at which there were more than 25,000 flights1 in this period are as follows: 1Includes all civilian scheduled and charter air transport movements (except air taxis) by UK and foreign airlines. Flights such as positioning, training, private, corporate and military are excluded.

  • Aberdeen
  • Belfast City
  • Belfast International
  • Birmingham
  • Bristol
  • East Midlands
  • Edinburgh
  • Gatwick
  • Glasgow
  • Heathrow
  • Leeds/Bradford
  • Liverpool
  • London City
  • Luton
  • Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Southampton
  • Stansted.

Mr. Lazarowicz

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many complaints about aircraft noise his Department received in(a) 2001 and (b) each of the previous four years, broken down by airport or geographical area. [35186]

Mr. Jamieson

Information is not held comprehensively in the form requested and to collect it exactly as specified would entail disproportionate cost. Letters from the public (and telephone calls when a written response was provided) about aircraft noise matters generally, excluding responses to consultations and co-ordinated campaigns, were received in each year as follows:

Airport 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Heathrow 146 188 159 100 221
Gatwick 16 17 15 15 11
Stansted 87 102 70 243 53
Birmingham 10 6 6 4 2
Bournemouth 6 21 6 8 3
Bristol Lulsgate 1 1 7
East Midlands 1 2 27 19
Edinburgh 1 1 1 1
Glasgow 1
Liverpool 3 4 5
London City 1 6 3
Luton 5 16 32 16 4
Manchester 3 2 2 2 9
Manston 1 51 7 3
Oxford 5 12 2 6 5
Plymouth 2 1
Others 271 182 104 107 89

Most of these letters, e-mails and telephone calls were about specific aspects of Government policy, the airport's noise controls, or both. Many complaints about noise matters are, however, dealt with by each individual airport. Some airports regularly publish their own summary statistics of complaints or inquiries.

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