Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department collects data from (a) individual airports and (b) NATS on the number of aircraft which join an interception landing system between 8nm and 10nm from the east of an airport.

The Department has issued notices under Section 78(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 to London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted airports. These notices set out the noise mitigation requirements for departing and arriving aircraft at these airports, including details on the Instrument Landing System (ILS) joining point arrangements.

The Department does not collect data on where aircraft join the airport’s ILS, but we expect London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted airports to do so and we encourage other large airports to do the same.

The Department has not provided any specific guidance to NATS, the Civil Aviation Authority or individual airports relating to aircraft arrival operations during an extended period of low air traffic movements. However, we expect that all airports will seek to ensure their arrival operations are efficient, provide safe and stabilised approaches, and minimise their overall environmental impact.