Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority plan to modernise UK airspace and Liverpool John Lennon Airport is seeking the views of the public. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) is starting a 12-week public consultation on the flight paths aircraft will take in and out of the airport in the future.
Airspace above the UK is among the most complex in the world but has not seen any significant change since the 1950s. Now the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) plan to modernise UK airspace.
The aim is to deliver quicker, quieter and cleaner journeys by air in and around the UK and to accommodate future aviation growth, with flight paths having to be redrawn in a coordinated way.
Airports across the UK will all be consulting with local communities and other airspace users about potential changes to their departure and arrival routes. LJLA’s own 12-week consultation will last until 12 noon on Thursday, April 9.
The airport, which is looking to expand the number of flights it handles in the next few years, has set out various options to illustrate how the flight paths of aircraft operating in the skies above North West England and North Wales might change in the future as part of this airspace modernisation.
The area covered by possible changes to flight paths of aircraft relating to LJLA, reaches to south Lancashire in the north, Warrington in the east, mid-Cheshire in the south and across to Flintshire in the west.
The airport is keen that members of the public who live within areas that may potentially be affected by such changes to aircraft flight paths, participate in the consultation.
Two open days will be held at LJLA over the coming weeks as part of the consultation. One will be on Wednesday, February 12, and the other on Saturday, March 7, with representatives from the airport on hand to discuss the potential impact of any proposed flight path changes.
Click here for further information on how to participate in the consultation