No changes for flightpaths

FLIGHTPATHS for passenger jets crossing the county will not change at all when new airspace proposals are revealed, it was claimed today.

Air industry sources told The Evening Star that none of the routes currently criss-crossing communities would be altered - despite growing fury at the number of noisy planes flying over villages and towns.

But bosses at air traffic management company NATS denied the speculation and said experts were still working on the plans.

At peak times noise from airliners in the skies is almost constant.

Surveys have shown noise from a jumbo can take 80 seconds to vanish, and just as one departs another arrives, creating a ceaseless roar and rumble, ruining Suffolk's peace and tranquillity.

The Evening Star's Air Fair campaign has asked NATS to move flightpaths to over countryside in badly affected areas such as Felixstowe - which has around 600 planes a day - either permanently or on a rota to give people quiet weeks or weekends.

Air industry insiders though say NATS will not be making any flightpath changes from the plans they have seen during the airspace negotiations.

Proposals for holding stacks which generated thousands of objections will be changed slightly, but other routes - such as the controversial ones over Dedham - have already been gradually reset and are unlikely to be tinkered with despite representations made during the last consultation.

A spokesman for NATS said representations from the previous consultation would be taken into account.

“If we were not going to make any changes there would not be any point in having consultation. It's too early to say what the scale of the changes will be as we are still working on them at the moment - they are taking a bit of time and will take a while longer yet,” he said.