Proposals to restrict night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted from October 2017 are out for consultation.
Explaining the plans, aviation minister Tariq Ahmad said the government was keen to retain the status quo in terms of the number of night flights, and preventing any increase in the actual number aside from the spare movements the airports already have. This would involve changing the framework for managing night flights to ensure the growing number of exempt aircraft do not undermine the purposes of the restrictions and to create greater transparency and more certainty for communities on the number of flights that can take place.
The consultation closes on 28 February 2017.