Quieter modern aircraft on the rise at London Luton Airport

Quieter modern aircraft amounted to nearly a fifth of aircraft movements at London Luton Airport in 2022, with that figure expected to almost double this year, a meeting heard.

A legal agreement attached to the 2012 planning permission to expand to 18m passengers a year required the airport operator to produce a report, according to planning consultant David Gurtler.

“As part of the eight-week public inquiry last year for an increase from 18m to 19m passenger per annum, a new legal agreement was drawn up,” he told the borough council’s overview and scrutiny board.

“That annual monitoring report is referred to as a sustainability report,” he explained. “It still covers the items on which the airport is required to provide information.

“There were 118,000 aircraft movements last year, which was a big increase on 2021, although that’s still down on the 141,000 in 2019 (pre-Covid).

“Altogether 32,000 tonnes of cargo went through, which was also up on 2021. There was no breach of the night time or daytime noise contours in 2022.

“Modern quieter generation aircraft amounted to 17 per cent of aircraft movements at London Luton, which is high compared to other airports. This year the figure is nearly double that.

“There are planning conditions which restrict the number of night movements to a maximum of 9,650, which the airport was under at 9,157. For the early morning shoulder when aircraft take off the movements are restricted to 7,000 and there were 4,666.

“Aircraft are meant to follow a certain noise preferential route. If they depart from those, it’s a track violation. The airport investigates these and no fine is imposed if it’s for a valid reason, such as storms or an air traffic control instruction.

“Out of 118,060 movements, there were only 48 track violations, so 99.6 per cent of aircraft comply with routes. If any are fined, the proceeds go to the community fund, which totalled around £60,000 of fines in 2022,” he said.

“During last year, 114 properties were insulated against aircraft noise locally, while more than 960 were approached. Not all householders accept.

“The airport received 10,676 complaints, which is fewer than in 2021 despite more movements, and 20 people were responsible for 80 per cent of that total.

“On air quality, the airport complied with the UK standards on particulate emissions and also on nitrogen dioxide, so although there was an increase from 2021 it was still at the objective levels set by the government.

“The net zero road map was introduced to tie in with the local authority’s 2040 target.” Three “interesting things” are due to feature from next year, he added.

“These are a noise reduction strategy, an updated travel plan and a carbon reduction strategy. Those are likely to be submitted towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

“This report doesn’t cover the development consent order (DCO) currently subject to examination or the Luton DART, which came into operation this year.

“The DCO examination goes on until February 2024, with a final decision not likely until the end of that year. So a progress update on that won’t appear in next year’s report either.”