AIRCRAFT noise levels around Stansted Airport fell last year compared to 2001 and 2000, according to an annual study for the Department for Transport.o
Last year's improvement is attributed to a slight reduction in the number of take-offs and landings in the summer and the growing use of more modern aircraft.
Over the two years the number of people living around the airport and experiencing the on-set of noise nuisance as defined by the government has fallen by nearly two thirds - from 5,700 to 2,000, the report states.
The study is based on an average summers day when the airport is at its busiest.
Last year aircraft movements on such days averaged 451 compared to 461 in the previous year - a decrease of 2.2 per cent.
However passenger numbers grew around 12 per cent due to higher loads per aircraft. There was also a significant drop in the use of large propeller driven aircraft and a switch from older to more modern wide bodied aircraft - particularly for cargo flights.
Modern jet aircraft accounted for 75.7 per cent of the flights.
The noise reduction would have been more but for an increase in the use of hushkitted Boeing 737 aircraft, principally by Ryanair. However, these aircraft are now being phased out.
May 29, 2003 10:30
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