Noise complaints down at Manchester Airport
15.03.09
The number of complaints about noise from planes using Manchester Airport has dropped by 90 percent since 2001, the Evening News reports Last year, 950 people made official complaints about aircraft flying above the surrounding villages and countryside. This represents a big fall from the 9,557 complaints in 2001, the year after the controversial second runway was opened.
Airport bosses say a six-year drive to encourage pilots to use preferred flight paths away from built-up areas on take-off and use special techniques on descent, plus quieter modern planes and improved community relations, have caused the drop. However, campaigners say the reduction is because people are 'simply fed up of complaining' and being ignored.
The airport presents awards to airlines that attempt to reduce noise by ensuring 95 percent of their departures follow the flightpaths. Tim McDermott, airport operations director, said: ‘In 2001, just five of the airlines operating at Manchester met the target. Now 68 of our airlines meet the target.’
But Jeff Gazzard, of the Manchester Airport Environmental Network, told the newspaper: ‘The noise levels are neither accepted nor acceptable. Just ask the people of Stockport. There are about 35,000 people affected by noise from aircraft but many residents are now simply fed up of complaining. It doesn't get you anywhere, so what's the point?’
‘There is a difference between people being annoyed and complaining. After people complain for a third time, complaint fatigue sets in. Inevitably there were more complaints around the time the second runway was introduced, but the problem has not gone away.’
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