AEF responds to government consultation on night flight restrictions: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted

16th May, 2024

The UK government is seeking views on continuing the existing night flight regime for its three ‘designated’ airports, Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow. Starting from October 2025, the proposed regime would continue to limit the number of flights that take off and land at Stansted between 11:30 pm and 6am every day.

AEF strongly disagrees with this proposal, as it is the AEF’s longstanding position that the government should ban night flights at all UK airports for a full eight-hour period each night other than for emergency and humanitarian purposes. 

If any night flights are to be permitted, they should be limited to those that have been independently demonstrated to be essential for economic reasons. Given the known harms caused by night flights there should be a presumption against their operation unless an airport can provide conclusive evidence of very substantial economic benefits on a route-by-route basis. 

To see the full details as to why, as well as AEF’s recommendations, please read our full consultations response below.