ABOVE: Edinburgh and Glasgow airports are each responsible for the modernisation of their airspace below 7,000ft, with NATS being responsible for traffic at higher altitudes
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports will be involved in the largest reorganisation of Scotland’s airspace since the 1950s under proposals for new, more efficient flight paths. A public consultation has opened into the proposals, which are intended to decrease noise and reduce emissions during take-offs and landings.
According to the Airspace Change Organising Group, modern aircraft are still using ‘outdated routes’ from seventy years ago – often flying further and longer than necessary. The Scottish Airspace Modernisation consultation is jointly co-ordinated between Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow Airport and air traffic service provider NATS.
The design of the UK’s airspace is an anachronism, being based on a network of ground navigation beacons introduced in the 1950s. Then, there were around 200,000 flights annually in the UK, but air travel has increased exponentially in the decades since and by 2019 there was a yearly average of 2.5 million flights, with projections of three million by 2030. Aircraft often fly further than necessary at sub-optimal altitudes and speeds because the routes were originally intended to fly over the location of the beacons, instead of following shorter, more efficient flight paths.
Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow Airport are each responsible for the modernisation of their departure and arrival flight paths below 7,000ft, with NATS being responsible for connecting these routes at higher altitudes. NATS has said that the revised routes could bring a reduction of 18,000 tonnes of CO2 each year – equivalent to the emissions from the energy used by approximately 5,000 homes.
PHOTO: NATS
