No more quiet periods?

 Daytime flights at Heathrow
 Runway alternation
 Impact on Wandsworth
 Cutting back on runway alternation
 Have your say

Daytime flights at Heathrow
People living in parts of Battersea, Putney and central Wandsworth are affected by noise from aircraft landing at Heathrow.

There are flights arriving at Heathrow from 4am to 11.30pm. This includes the main 'night' period from 4am - 6am when a daily average of 16 planes are allowed to land.

During the 'daytime' period (6am to 11.30pm) there are around 1,300 landings and take-offs at Heathrow - more than 70 an hour on average.

Runway alternation
The practice of runway alternation gives residents under the flightpath some relief during the day.

When planes are landing over central London (around 70 per cent of the time) they are routed to one of the two Heathrow runways.

In normal circumstances this means planes land on one runway for the first part of the day (from 7am to 3pm) and the other for the latter period from 3pm to 11.30pm.

This 3pm turnaround is managed by a weekly rota.

On week 1 planes land on the southern runway up to 3pm and the northern runway during the rest of the day.

On week 2 planes land on the northern runway up to 3pm and the southern runway during the rest of the day.

From 6am-7am when the airport is very busy there is no runway alternation.

When plans land from the east over Windsor there is no runway alternation.

Impact on Wandsworth
Aircraft landing on the southern runway will normally come in over areas like Wandsworth and Richmond.

Aircraft arriving on the northern runway will approach over areas like Hammersmith and Ealing.

You can find BAA's rota for runway alternation at www.heathrowairport.com.

If you are planning an outdoor event which could be affected by aircraft noise, you can use this programme as a guide, although the schedules may be adjusted because of weather conditions.

Cutting back on runway alternation
The Government's consultation on expanding Heathrow includes proposals for abandoning runway alternation during the day.

This would mean that during the busiest periods aircraft would use both runways in parallel for landings. This already happens between 6am and 7am.

In these circumstances planes approaching the airport from the east would descend over the Wandsworth and Richmond areas at the same time as the Hammersmith and Ealing areas.

In other words, for extra periods during the day, whether you live under the southern runway flightpath or the northern – there would be no let-up from noise.

Have your say

 Have your say on how a change to runway alternation would affect you and find out what others are saying