Heathrow Airport

Key Issues:

Aircraft noise increases risk of heart disease and strokes

Media & Webinars:

Heathrow Airport

Facts & Figures

Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world. It has two runways. The number of flights is capped at 480,000 a year. This was made a condition of granting permission for Terminal 5 in 2001. The cap was something which residents had campaigned for.
Heathrow has 17 scheduled night flights (between 11.30pm and 6am). They are all arrivals which come in between 4.30 am and 6am. But the hour between 6am and 7am is the busiest of the day.

Noise Pollution and the Community

Heathrow overflies more people than any other airport in Europe. According to the EU, 28% of all people in Europe impacted by noise levels of 55Lden or more live under the Heathrow flight paths. That is, around 650,000 people. But that does not include everybody impacted by noise. The UK Government recognises that people can be impacted at levels of 51 LAeq. That means that over a million people are impacted by noise from Heathrow.

Citizens’ Influence

There is a consultative committee on which residents are represented. There are also a number of other working parties. Heathrow also has meetings with citizens groups.
In 2001 HACAN, the local campaign group, took the UK Government to the European Court of Human Rights over night flights. They won the initial hearing but lost when the Government appealed in 2003. It has meant, though, that neither the Government nor Heathrow has risked increasing the number of night flights.
Heathrow has twice gone for a 3rd runway. It was defeated in 2010 after one of the most high-profile campaigns in UK history. You can read about it here.

Governments’ Position

The Government says how many night flights are allowed at Heathrow. It also sets out which metrics the airport must use in drawing up its noise contours. But Heathrow is a commercial company independent of Government.

Expected developments

Covid brought an end to the second attempt to get a third runway. Heathrow is under pressure from the current Labour Government to seek a third runway for a third time.