Night flying at London Heathrow Airport breaches human rights, according to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights against the UK Government. The government says it is studying the ruling, issued under Article 8 of the Convention of Human Rights, but has not decided whether to appeal.
The judgement, based on the Convention's statement that "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life and his home", affects Heathrow only, but other European airports close to urban areas say they are concerned at the precedent that the decision sets. The Heathrow Association for the Control of Airport Noise (HACAN) is pleased with the ruling, but points out that Heathrow only has an average of 16 flights a day that arrive or depart between midnight and 07:00 because of government controls. Most of these flights operate into Heathrow from Asia, arriving between 05:00 and 07:00. The association says that it suspects that 06:00 may be interpreted as a reasonable time for the resumption of air movements.
HACAN believes that it was the low number of contested flights that enabled the Court to reach its decision. The government would be unable to argue that stopping them would damage the country's economy or infringe the rights of a significant number of other people.
UK airports such as London Gatwick and East Midlands are more rural, but operate true 24h services, providing for large numbers of late-night passenger charter flights, HACAN observes. A court would be bound to take these factors into account.
Heathrow Airport comments that it will operate services as normal until the government tells it to do otherwise.
Source: Flight International