A CONTROVERSIAL flightpath study at Edinburgh Airport which attracted thousands of complaints has been hailed a success, as a "relatively small number" of local people were blamed for the majority of objections.
A report by Edinburgh Airport said that 40 per cent of the complaints received during the TUTUR flightpath trial, which ran from July to October last year, were received from the same five individuals.
Most were related to planes using the airport's existing flightpath, not the temporary test one, the report adds.
At its peak, the airport recorded 7,934 complaints from 567 individuals, and the exercise was eventually cut short in October after opponents complained that they had been "brought to tears" by noise pollution from planes passing overhead.
However, the report states that 57 per cent of the complaints lodged were actually about aircraft operating on flightpaths that have existed since the runway was built in the mid-1970s, not the alternative trial route.
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: "The report published today [Mon] shows the viability of one minute separation times between departing aircraft from Edinburgh Airport during our peak periods - this presents a great opportunity for us to meet the demands of Scotland’s growing international reputation and will enable us to create more jobs and help grow the economy.
“While the trial was a success - there is still work to do both technically and with our neighbouring communities.
“We will continue to work very closely with [the air traffic control service] NATS to address the anomalies which will enable us to meet the demand that comes with running Scotland’s busiest airport.
“The majority of complaints received during the trial period came from a relatively small number of people who live in pockets of communities in West Lothian. While the majority of these complaints did not relate to flights on the TUTUR flight path - we take our neighbours’ concerns seriously.
“Our decision on TUTUR will be not be taken hastily. The trial has allowed us to collect data to inform that decision and should we decide to progress for a permanent change we shall have two three-month periods of full consultation, an environmental impact assessment and further rigorous tests."
The trial launched at the end of June 2015 to test whether an alternative flightpath could be used to ease congestion at the hub, which handled a record-breaking 11 million passengers in 2015.
Between June 25 and October 28, when the trial was suspended, there were 21,691 departures from Edinburgh Airport.
Of these, 16 per cent followed the trial departure route, a north-easterly curve over the Firth of Forth which passed over communities including Broxburn, Uphall, Blackness and Linlithgow.
The report said that evidence from the trial showed that the airport can successfully achieve one minute separation of departing aircraft at peak times, relieving aircraft congestion and making the runway "more efficient".
However, it added that a small number (4.7 per cent) of aircraft were deemed off-track during the trial. The report stressed that the route would be reviewed in order to resolve the problem "should the airport decide to apply to make it permanent".
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