Night flight consultation begins

The government has begun a consultation into night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports. It is calling for views and evidence on "the effectiveness of the current regime, the costs and benefits of future options and airlines' fleet replacement plans"

Transport Minister Simon Burns says: "This consultation includes a review of current evidence on the costs of nightflights, particularly noise, and the benefits of these flights. It sets out ourthinking on how we would expect to appraise the policy options for the nextnight flights regime.

We will publish the second consultation later this year and this will include specific proposals for the new regime, such as the number of permitted night flights.

These proposals, which will be informed by the evidence we receive from this first stage consultation, will need to strike a fair balance between the interests of those affected by the noise disturbance and those of the airports, passengers and the UK economy."