Night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are to become part of a government review.
A six-week consultation on night-time noise abatement objectives will allow the government to seek views and evidence from the industry and communities.
The objectives informed by the consultation will set the groundwork for future measures on how to manage aviation noise at night at the three London area airports from October 2025.
The review aims to ensure that aircraft operations are managed so that the negative impacts of night flying on local residents don’t outweigh the positive benefits they bring to the wider economy, according to the Department for Transport.
“Aircraft are becoming quieter as technology advances, and we expect this trend to continue. However, the government recognises that noise from aircraft taking off and landing at night is often regarded by communities as the most disturbing form of airport operations,” the DfT said.
Aviation minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton said: “There’s no doubt night flights have an effect on local residents underneath busy flightpaths, but as aircraft become quieter, we have an opportunity to strike a balance to make sure we can support the aviation industry without having a debilitating impact on people’s lives.
“This consultation will help us to shape policy and create a flightpath towards a more sustainable approach to night-time aviation noise.”
Also published today is a revised overarching aviation noise policy statement, reaffirming the foundation for noise policy for the entire aviation sector, no matter the time of the flight whether it’s day or night.
“Through this statement we aim to balance the health and wellbeing of communities with the clear economic and consumer benefits of aviation,” the transport department added.
“In addition, the guidance used to allow dispensation for operators to fly night flights will be looked at in the wake of last summer’s disruption across the sector.
“The summer of 2022 was particularly challenging from an international air traffic control perspective and resulted in an increase in late-running flights, and a corresponding higher number of night flight dispensations.
“Such a rise was in stark contrast to the summers of 2020 and 2021 when the numbers of dispensations were very low.
“Given the number of night flight dispensations allowed during the early part of last summer, it’s vital to take this additional evidence into account before publishing any revision to our night flight dispensation guidance. Updating the dispensation guidance will form part of the main night flight regime consultation, which we aim to publish in late 2023.”