Written question asked by Fleur Anderson (Labour) on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 July 2026. It was answered by Keir Mather (Labour) on Monday, 10 August 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Heathrow Airport: Noise

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, why the Appraisal of Sustainability of the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement only modelled one set of indicative flight paths that seek to minimise the number of newly impacted people.

Answer: The analysis has used an indicative flight path design produced for the Airports Commission, which was considered the most relevant and reasonable by Department for Transport policy officials given information available at this time, in discussion with the CAA, NATS and Heathrow Airport Limited (as current airport operator). Work is currently underway to design modernised airspace for the whole London region in line with the CAA’s airspace change processes.

Secondary information