Airlines are putting more effort into noise reduction at Heathrow according to the results of the latest “Fly Quiet League” which tracked the noise performance of planes from April to June 2015. The Fly Quiet League table compares each of the top 50 airlines (according to the number of annual flights through Heathrow) across 6different noise metrics.
Heathrow is a pioneer in the use of the Continuous Descent Approach, with over 85% of arriving aircraft adhering to this quieter flight procedure as they arrive into the airport.
Since the inception of the Fly Quiet League, Heathrowโs technical teams have been working with airlines to improve their use of Continuous Descent Approach. Heathrowโs CEO, John Holland-Kaye took this a step further when he wrote to airlinesโ executives last year asking for them to improve on their scores. This has led to marked improvements – with LOT moving up from 60% to 99% adherence and Austrian moving up from 63% to 90%.
Matt Gorman, Heathrowโs Sustainability and Environment Director said:
โThe Civil Aviation Authority recently released a report showing Heathrowโs noise footprint is smaller than ever. But we know we have to do more to provide greater respites for our neighbours.
โWe will continue to engage directly with our airline partners to build on the trends we see today.
โWe are pleased to see the great leaps forward made by some airlines in their use of continuous descent approaches into the airport, while innovative noise-reduction tools like steeper approaches are being explored and employed by all our airlines.โ