Runway Resurfacing Offers Residents Night-time Relief

Work due to take place 3rd March to 31st October

Runway resurfacing is an essential maintenance task that comes round roughly once every decade. The Southern runway will be resurfaced this year and the work will take place at night.

That will mean changes to the pattern of night-time flights. From 3rd March to 31st October, most aircraft flying after 10.30pm and before 6am will use the northern runway. This will mostly affect arrivals after 4.30am. The release states that there will be no additional night flights.

What does this mean for you?

  • If you live under the flight path for the northern runway, you'll experience more night-time aircraft noise than usual
  • If you live under the flight path for the southern runway, you'll experience less night-time aircraft noise than usual

Key areas affected in 2013

  • To the east: Hounslow west; Syon; Kew; Barnes; Fulham; Chiswick.
  • To the west: Colnbrook; Datchet; Windsor; Dedworth

The switch in noise levels occurs because they normally use both runways equally at night through 'runway alteration'; one week, they will use one runway for arrivals and the other for departures. The following week they swap obviously this can only happen only when both runways are open.

Proposed schedule during the ten months of resurfacing:

  • For five nights a week from Sunday evening to Friday morning all flights will use the northern runway between 10.30pm and 6am.
  • For two nights a week from Friday evening to Sunday morning runway alternation will operate as normal: southern runway one week, northern the next week.
  • Daytime flights are not affected.

Night-time flight paths during 2013 runway resurfacing

1. When wind blows from the west

  • Arriving aircraft fly in from the direction of London (red line on the map)
  • Departing aircraft take off towards the west (green lines on the map)
  • Areas affected: Cranford, Hounslow West, Syon, Kew, Chiswick, Barnes and Fulham

Westerly operations map during runway resurfacing (809KB PDF)

2. When wind blows from the east

  • Arriving aircraft fly in from the direction of Windsor (red line on the map)
  • Departing aircraft take off towards the east (green lines on the map)
  • Areas affected: Colnbrook, Horton, Datchet, Windsor and Dedworth

Easterly operations map during runway resurfacing (660KB PDF)

Runway alternation helps us manage aircraft noise for the good of the entire community. Suspending night-time alternation for a full ten months is not ideal, but it is unavoidable. To those of our neighbours who are likely to experience more noise than usual, we'd like to apologise. It may help to know that we'll be resurfacing the northern runway during 2014 and the north-south switch will be reversed.


February 6, 2013