MORE than half a million people living under Heathrow’s flight paths face aircraft passing overhead every 90 seconds from 4.30am under government plans to change the rules on night flights.

The Civil Aviation Bill, which is being debated in Parliament tomorrow, contains a clause that would abolish the rule capping the number of flights between 11.30pm and 6am at an average of 16 a night.

The Government wants to end the system of placing limits on the flights and the amount of noise they create. Under the new system, airlines would have to comply only with a cap on the noise emitted by all night flights over a season.

Ministers have accepted claims by the aviation industry that modern aircraft produce only a quarter of the noise of older ones. By phasing out older aircraft, airlines could quadruple the number of flights.

Each aircraft is already assigned a “quota count” or “QC” rating, according to how much noise it makes. The QC ratings of all aircraft used at night are added together and must not exceed the noise quota set by the Government.

Most aircraft arriving at Heathrow before 6am are Boeing 747-400s, rated QC2. These could be replaced with four times more Airbus A340s and Boeing 777s, rated QC0.5.

ClearSkies, the campaign group representing those living under Heathrow’s flight paths, disputed the claim that people would not be woken up by quieter aircraft. John Stewart, its chairman, said: “There is much less background noise at night so aircraft shatter the silence even if they have been equipped with quieter engines.”

Colin Stanbury, a consultant advising Wandsworth Council in southwest London on its campaign against night flights, said: “The Government is seeking to change the rules without carrying out any social survey of how people would be affected by a much greater number of quieter aircraft. Local authorities have asked the Department for Transport to do a proper survey but the request has been ignored.”

The DfT is consulting separately on allowing an extra two flights a night from October. It has pledged to maintain a limit on numbers for five years but says that it could be scrapped in 2012 if the Bill becomes law.

The House of Lords will vote on the Bill tomorrow and a cross-party group of peers hopes to remove the clause that abolishes the numbers limit. However, the Government would be likely to use its majority in the Commons to reinstate the clause.

Lord Soley of Hammersmith, a Labour peer and chairman of Future Heathrow, which supports expansion of the airport, said: “The Government should not muck around with night flights because they upset people enormously.”

Edward Lister, leader of Wandsworth Council, said: “The Government’s plans for unlimited expansion at Heathrow present the biggest environmental threat to communities in South and West London.”

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