Night flights at London airports: developing options for a new regime from 2014

This initial consultation seeks views on night flying restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

As a first step to setting the next night flights regime, we are using this consultation to gather evidence to inform both our development of options for the next regime and the work of the Airports Commission.

This is an open call for evidence and we want to gather evidence now to help us assess the relative feasibility of different options.

On 22 January the Civil Aviation Authority published 2 documents, commissioned by the department as part of our review of evidence on the costs and benefits of night flights: a review of the sleep disturbance and health effects of aircraft noise; and a proposed methodology for estimating the value of sleep disturbance and health effects. The documents can be found on the Civil Aviation Authority website at:

• ERCD Report 1208, ‘Aircraft noise, sleep disturbance and health effects: a review’, 22 January 2013
• ERCD Report 1209, ‘Proposed methodology for estimating the cost of sleep disturbance from aircraft noise’, 22 January 2013

• Night flying restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, written statement by the Minister of State for Transport, 22 January 2013