British Airways, Airbus, and air navigations service provider Nats have joined forces with Heathrow in an initiative to cut aircraft noise to surrounding residents of the airport.
The partnership will study and develop operational procedures to reduce the number of people affected by noise around Heathrow.
The study will use BA’s A380 mega-jumbo, recognised as one of the quietest aircraft in the world in a three-stage ‘Quieter Flight’ project.
The first stage identifies the operational improvements that are possible, including reducing thrust on departure and optimising the height at which the aircraft is flown. Changes to these departure procedures have the potential to “significantly” reduce noise levels, the four industry partners claim.
The second stage will see the testing and training of procedures in a BA flight simulator.
All the operational improvements are then expected to be brought together into a series of demonstration flights with the A380 from early next year.
The procedures will then be made available to other airlines and airports around the world.
The move follows the government delaying a decision on increasing night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted until October 2017 while the Airports Commission works on its recommendations for expanding airport capacity in the southeast which are due to be published after next year’s general election.
Airbus’s executive vice president customer affairs, Christopher Buckley, said: “The A380 is the ideal aircraft to conduct these ‘quieter flights’ because it has the latest state-of-the-art technologies that allow optimised paths to be flown very precisely.
“The A380 is able to further reduce the noise of what is already the quietest aircraft of its type.”
BA environment strategy manager Captain Dean Plumb said: “The A380 is the ideal aircraft for this project as it has unique operational capabilities that can be adjusted to reduce noise during take-off and landing.
“The next step is to train our pilots to use the optimised noise procedures in the simulator and then to test these improvements in flight trials.”
Heathrow sustainability director Matt Gorman said: “Heathrow is at the forefront of international efforts to tackle aircraft noise and collaborations such as this form part of our long-term commitment to do this whilst also safeguarding the connectivity and growth that Heathrow provides.”
Ian Jopson, Nats head of environmental and community affairs, added: “Air traffic management has a vital role to play in tackling the impact of aircraft noise and Nats has an excellent track record of working with the rest of the aviation industry and community groups on this important issue.
“The ‘Quieter Flight’ project, brings together the expertise of the whole industry, and when combined with the wide range of other initiatives we are working on, will help make a difference to those people living under the flight path.”