On 15 January 2018 we launched our Airspace Change Consultation which set out in detail our proposals for modernising the departure flight paths currently used by aircraft from Glasgow Airport.

In launching our airspace consultation, which aligns with a UK-wide initiative driven by our regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) known as the Future Airspace Strategy, we were following an endorsed and agreed airspace change process. This was explained in detail within our consultation document. The launch followed two years of planning and had received the necessary authorisation from the CAA under the airspace change process (CAP725).

We have been informed by the CAA that it has received clarification from the Department for Transport (DfT) on the transitional arrangements relating to the new airspace change process (CAP1616). The result is a decision to assess our proposals against the criteria of the new airspace change process.

The update from the CAA can be found at www.caa.co.uk/News/Airspace-change-process-for-Glasgow-Airport/.

In preparing for our consultation we went above and beyond the requirements of the previous guidelines in order to align ourselves, as closely as possible, with the new criteria which had yet to be finalised at that time. This included commissioning additional environmental assessments to address issues such as the impacts of aviation noise. In light of this, the CAA expects aspects of the work we have completed to date to meet some of the requirements of the new process.

The feedback we have received from local communities and aviation stakeholders over the past 12 weeks has proved extremely valuable and will play a vital role in informing the next stage of our proposals. We would like to thank all those who have participated in the consultation and would encourage those who have not already done so, to share their views before the consultation closes on Friday 13 April 2018. Full details on our consultation can be found on our airspace page.

In the meantime, we will continue our work with the CAA to ascertain what is required in order to satisfy the requirements of the new process.