Flight Performance - Heathrow Airport · Page 4 Flight Performance – Annual Report 2015 IT...

Annual Report 2015

Flight Performance

Flight Performance – Annual Report 2015

ContentsIntroduction 3 Role of Flight Performance 3

IT Systems 4

Flight Analysis Data 6

Noise Action Plan 25

Airfield Performance 29

Air Quality Action Plan 38

Resilience 39

Airspace 40

Flight Performance Engagement 41

Glossary 44


We have three key areas of responsibility where we carry out daily/weekly/monthly monitoring, reporting and root cause analysis of specific issues to ensure compliance with statutory requirements and to enable Heathrow to continually assess the operational and environmental performance of its airspace and airfield operations.

What we do •Manageaircraft-relatedenvironmentalissuese.g.noise,airqualityandclimatechange. •Safeguardthecapabilityandtakeactionstodriveuptheefficiencyoftheairfield. •Feedintostrategicareasrelatingtothelong-termgrowthoftheairportwithhistoricdataandreportsdepictingtrends.

How we do it •WeleadontrialstoimproveenvironmentalandoperationalefficiencyandrespondtoconsultationsonmattersrelatingtoAir

TrafficManagement(ATM),airspacedevelopmentandenvironmentalissues.Weundertakehorizonscansandidentifythreatsto our airfield performance, working to mitigate and limit the impact.

•WeareambassadorsforHeathrowAirsideOperationsonmattersrelatingtogovernmentpoliciesandprocesseswiththeDepartmentforTransport(DfT)andtheMinistryofDefence.

•Weleadonoperationalinputregardingcapacitymanagementandrunwayresilience. •Weensurethataircraftnoiseandtrackkeeping(NTK)aremonitoredinlinewiththeDfTandourownrequirements. •WeareaccountableforaspectsofoperationalenvironmentalcomplianceandwedelivertheAirsideOperationsfacetsofthe

Noise and Air Quality Action plans. •WeworkonresearchanddevelopmentwithgroupssuchasSustainableAviationandtheAirportOperatorsAssociation(AOA). •Weprovidetechnicalanalysisfortheonwarddisseminationtomembersofthepublicregardingenquiriesrelatingtohow

airport operations may affect them.

IntroductionThisreport,producedbyHeathrowAirsideOperationsFlightPerformance(FP)Team,containsdetaileddataonarangeofkeyissuesrelated to noise and air quality management, performance metrics and airspace projects that FP delivers. The report covers the calendar year of 2015, with the exception of the data relating to night flights as they are managed and reported as separate summer and winter seasons.

Further detailed information on our noise strategy, abatement procedures, targets and mitigation schemes can be found on our dedicated noise website along with all our public reporting. Additional material on air quality, including how and what we monitor and our constant reporting, is available on our separate dedicated air quality website.

Ourwebsitedetailsare:www.heathrow.com/noise and www.heathrowairwatch.org.uk

Role of Flight Performance


IT SystemsToenableustomonitortheperformanceoftheHeathrowoperationwemakeuseofairport-widesystems,togetherwiththefollowingFP-ownedassets:

AirportNoiseandOperationsManagementSystem(ANOMS)ANOMSisthemainnoiseandtrackkeepingsystematHeathrow.ANOMSreceivesradardatafromNATS(AirNavigationServicesProvider)AirTrafficControl(ATC)radars,whichprovidesinformationabouttheheightofanaircraftaboveairportelevation,thetrackithasflown,itsgroundspeedatanyparticularpointandtheaircraft’scall-sign.

Thecall-signisthencrossreferencedwithairtrafficlogs,whichprovidedatasuchastheaircraftoperator,aircrafttypeanddestination or origin. Additionally, the system automatically receives data overnight from a series of permanent noise monitors located around the airport. The locations of the permanent monitors and the noise limits, which apply to departing aircraft only, are prescribed by the DfT. The noise events recorded at the monitors are then matched to the aircraft track details. Its primary purpose is tomonitorairlineperformanceagainstKeyPerformanceIndicators.ANOMSmeasuresaircraftagainstthefollowing:

•AdherencetotheNPRs(NoisePreferentialRoutes). •Adherencetothegovernment-setnoiselimitsfordepartingaircraft. •1000ftcompliance. •CompliancewiththedayandnightInstrumentLandingSystem(ILS)JoiningPointprocedures. •MonitoringofContinuousDescentApproaches(CDA). •ReportingontheuseofNightJetMovementsandreportingtointernalandtoexternalstakeholdersonusage.

Additionally,ANOMShastheflexibilitytotrackandreportonanyoperationaltrialsrunbyHeathrow.Itisthesolesystemcapableofreportingontheoutcomesandfacilitatestheidentificationoftrialbenefits,anddis-benefits.Furtherdetailsofthetrialsappearlaterin this report.

2015wasthefirstfullyearoftheFlightPerformanceprojecttorefreshourNTKsystems.Theaimofthisthree-yearprojectistodevelop a ‘real time’ system capable of informing our airline partners of environmental compliance, better informing our local communities through new community tools, an enabler to Flight Performance to assist us in driving airline performance and the ability to better analyse aircraft performance on the airfield.

WebTrak WebTrak is an online system that allows those affected by aircraft operations at Heathrow to locate their residence and view how aircraft operate in their area. It has been in operation at Heathrow since 2008 and, following community feedback, can show flight tracksoverthepast12months.AspartoftheNTKrefreshprojectabove,the24-hourdelayhasbeenreducedto20minutes.WebTrak has gone through several upgrades since it was first implemented, the most notable being clearer mapping capability. A further upgrade, allowing postcode elevations to be calculated against aircraft height, will follow this year. WebTrak is currently running the latest version 5.1.1 Onceauserhasidentifiedtheoperationthatcausedthemannoyance,theycancomplainviaWebTrakwheretheircomplaintgetsloggeddirectlyintothemainNTKANOMS.WebTrakcanbeviewedfromwww.heathrow.com/noise


WebTrakMyNeighbourhoodIn2014welaunchedanewonlinetoolcalledWebTrakMyNeighbourhood.ThisisinadditiontoourcurrentWebTraksystem.ThenewWebTrakMyNeighbourhoodsystemgivesageneraloverviewofwhereaircraftfly,allowingtheusertogetabetterunderstanding of Heathrow’s operations over time. Aircraft operations can be looked at over various periods, monthly, quarterly or annually.Inadditionthevieweddatacanbebrokendownbyperiodofday,day-time,night-time,evening,workdaysandweekends.Amorelocation-specifictooliscurrentlyunderdevelopmentandwillberolledouttothepublicin2016.

AirTrak AirTrak provides airports with a tool that measures carbon output from each phase of aviation activity. Airports can use this informationtoimplement,monitorandmeasurethesuccessofcarbon-reducingactivitiesovertime.Heathrowacquiredthesysteminmid-2012toevaluatetheproductandcheckitfordataaccuracyandsuitability.WearelookingtoenhancethisproductaspartofourNTKrefreshprojectoverthenext24monthsbeforedeployingit.

AirfieldDisruptionandDelayImpactCalculationTool(ADDICT)In 2015 FP has further developed the tool that was first rolled out the year before, mostly focusing on enhancing existing functionalitieswiththeobjectivetocreatea‘one-stopshop’solutionforpre-tacticalandtacticalplanningofaircraftflowanddemandandcapacitybalancingissues.TheprimaryfunctionofthetoolistosupportbothD-1andD0planningactivities,althoughinadditiontoperformanceforecastingthetoolhasbeenalsousedforretrospective‘what-if’scenariotestingpurposes.


Flight Analysis DataThis data is produced by FP throughout the year. In order to set it in context, it is necessary to explain Heathrow aircraft operations.

Heathrow has parallel runways commonly referred to as the Northern and Southern runways, lying west to east. These facilitate arrivalsanddeparturesresultinginmovementsfromfourdistinctrunwayends;27R,27L,09Rand09R.BelowarediagramsproducedbytheCivilAviationAuthority(CAA)whichshowthearrivalanddepartureroutesfromHeathrowAirport,alongwiththepercentage bias for each route that is used.

Aircraft arriving to Heathrow on Easterly operations in 2015

Radar track databelow 3000ft amsl

Radar track data3000 - 6000ft amsl

Radar track dataabove 6000ft amsl

0 2 4 6 8 10 Nautical Miles

0 2 4 6 8 10 Miles

0 2 4 6 8 10 KilometresRadar data shown is a sample shaded by height above mean sealevel (amsl). Airport operations figures relate to fixed-wingaircraft movements in 2015. Figures have been rounded to thenearest whole number. The average daily numbers shownrelate to 100% easterly days only. A 'mixed' day refers to dayswith both easterly and westerly operations. Contains OrdnanceSurvey data © Crown copyright and database right 2016

65Number of days 100% easterlyNumber of days 'mixed' 80

220Number of days 100% westerly

Average daily arrivals

% of all easterly arrivalsTotal annual arrivalsDays with no arrivals

610234

61,68593%


% of all easterly arrivalsTotal annual arrivalsDays with no arrivals

46231

4,7347%

09L

09R


Aircraft arriving to Heathrow on Westerly operations in 2015


Radar track data3000 - 6000ft amsl


Radar data shown is a sample shaded by height above mean sealevel (amsl). Airport operations figures relate to fixed-wingaircraft movements in 2015. Figures have been rounded to thenearest whole number. The average daily numbers shownrelate to 100% westerly days only. A 'mixed' day refers to dayswith both easterly and westerly operations. Contains OrdnanceSurvey data © Crown copyright and database right 2016


0 2 4 6 8 10 Miles

0 2 4 6 8 10 Kilometres

32274

84,73650%


% of all westerly arrivalsTotal annual arrivalsDays with no arrivals

32272

85,84550%


% of all westerly arrivalsTotal annual arrivalsDays with no arrivals

220Number of days 100% westerlyNumber of days 'mixed' 80

65Number of days 100% easterly

27R

27L

Aircraft departing from Heathrow on Easterly operations in 2015

Average daily departures

Percentage of all departures% of all easterly departures

116

5%17%

Noise PreferentialRoutes*



*Above 4,000ft amsl aircraft can be directed off these routes by Air Traffic Control


0 2 4 6 8 10 Miles

0 2 4 6 8 10 KilometresRadar data shown is a sample shaded by height above mean sea Level (amsl). Airport operations figures relate to fixed-wing aircraftMovements in 2015. Figures have been rounded to the nearestwhole number. The average daily numbers shown relate to 100%easterly days only. A 'mixed' day refers to days with both easterlyand westerly operations. The SAM SID ceased on 25 June 2015.Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2016

Total annual departures 11,578



87

4%13%




139

6%21%




182

8%27%




36

2%5%




97

4%15%


86Number days 100% easterlyNumber days 'Mixed' 86

193Number days 100% westerly

65Number of days 100% easterlyNumber of days 'mixed' 80

220Number of days 100% westerly

09L/R CPT

09L/R BUZ

09L/R BPK

09L/R DET

09L/R SAM / GAS

09L/R MID


Aircraft departing from Heathrow on Westerly operations in 2015

Noise PreferentialRoutes*



*Above 4,000ft amsl aircraft can be directed off these routes by Air Traffic Control


0 2 4 6 8 10 Miles

0 2 4 6 8 10 KilometresRadar data shown is a sample shaded by height above mean sea Level (amsl). Airport operations figures relate to fixed-wing aircraftMovements in 2015. Figures have been rounded to the nearestwhole number. The average daily numbers shown relate to 100%westerly days only. A 'mixed' day refers to days with both easterlyand westerly operations. The SAM SID ceased on 25 June 2015.Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2016


Percentage of all departures% of all westerly departures

96

11%15%




99

11%15%




140

16%22%




174

19%27%




100

11%16%




34

4%5%


220Number of days 100% westerlyNumber of days 'mixed' 80

65Number of days 100% easterly

27L/R WOB

27L/R BPK

27L/R CPT

27L/R SAM / GOG

27L/R DET

27L/R MID


AnnualMovementsbyRunwayThetotalnumberofaircraftmovements(AM)in2015was475,079.ThisfigureincludestheverysmallnumberofaircraftmovementsthatarenotclassifiedasAirTransportMovementsandarethereforenotcapped.Thisincludeshelicopters,aircraftinemergencyandtheir subsequent departures and business aviation aircraft with a seating capacity of ten or less. The total number of Air Transport Movementswas474,070andthisfigureisbrokendowninthefollowinggraph.

In2015HeathrowcontinuedtooperatebeneaththeAirTransportMovement(ATM)capof480,000.

62,02009L

170,51727R

70,74309R

170,79027L

Northern Runway

Southern Runway

AnnualAirTransportMovementsbyRunway2015Source:NATS


MovementsbyAircraftTypeThe mix of aircraft types has remained relatively consistent, although, the frequency of Airbus A380 usage continues to increase year onyearfromitsentryintoservicein2008.Ofnotefor2015isthecontinuedincreaseinB787operationsintoHeathrowandthecontinueddeclineofA340,B747andB737operations.ThefiguresalsoshowaslightdeclineinA319/321movementsinfavourofthe A320 variant.

2014

2015

2013

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

160,000

140,000

A320 A319 A321 B747 B777 B737 A340 B767 B757 A330 MD80 A310B787A380 OtherCRJ

MovementsbyAircraftType2015Source:BOSS

Wind DirectionFor safety and performance reasons, aircraft must take off and land into the wind. The prevailing wind for the area comes from a westerlydirectionwhichmeansthataircraftwillusuallyarrivefromtheeast(thatisoverLondon)anddeparttothewest.Thisisknownaswesterlyoperations,andtherunwaysusedare27R(Northern)and27L(Southern).However,whenthewindiscomingfromtheeast,aircraftwillarrivefromthewest(thatisoverWindsor)anddeparttotheeast.Thisisknownaseasterlyoperationsandtherunwaysusedare09L(Northern)and09R(Southern).

At Heathrow, government policy dictates that, during the day, unless the wind is too strong, planes should always take off to the west(towardsWindsor);consequentlyaircraftwillarrivefromtheeast(overLondon).Thisisknownasthewesterlypreference.However,ifthesurfacewindisfromtheeastandisoverfiveknots,aircraftwilltakeofftotheeast(towardsLondon)andarrivefromthewest(overWindsor).

Westerly preference was introduced to reduce the number of people exposed to high levels of noise emitted by departing aircraft, by minimising the number of departures on easterly operations. At the time of its introduction, westerly preference operated 24 hours a day because the noise emitted by aircraft on departure was considered by the government to be the predominant issue, since it was much greater than that emitted by arriving aircraft.

In 2001, following consultation on the preference for the direction of operation of the airport at night, the DfT decided that the westerly preference should be replaced, at night, by a weekly rotation between westerly and easterly operations, whenever weather conditions permit.

The operation of a preference is dependent on a tailwind speed of less than five knots, dry runways and the absence of strong crosswinds, so the eventual split is always dependent on weather.


DeparturesArrivals

09R09L27R27L

85,893 84,792

61,636

4,729

84,897 85,725

394

66,014

Arrivals and Departures by Runway 2015Source:NATS

Runway AlternationRunway alternation is a system at Heathrow which provides respite for local residents affected by arriving aircraft on the final approach to land. It applies only to arriving aircraft, although ATC endeavour to use the ‘other’ runway for departures where possible.

Duringdaytimeoperations,thehistoricCranfordAgreement(explainedonp13)preventsdeparturesfromtheNorthernrunwayoneasterlyoperations(09L),whichinturnpreventsrunwayalternation.Itispossible,however,tousealternationafterthelastdepartureatnightandbeforethefirstdeparturethefollowingmorning,therebyspreadingtheearlymorningarrivals(whichstartbeforethedepartures)betweenthetwofinalapproachpaths.

The combination of runway alternation and the westerly/ easterly preference arrangements results in distinct periods during which alternation operates.

• Day – westerly operations Onerunwayisusedforlandingsfrom06.00to15.00(seeparagraphbelowonthe06.00to07.00period)andtheotherfrom15.00untilafterthelastdeparture.ThisarrangementrunsforaweekfromMondaytoSunday.

• Day – easterly operations There is no runway alternation during the day on easterly operations due to the historic Cranford Agreement.

• Night – westerly and easterly operations After the last departure there is a separate night period until 06.00. During this period, if weather conditions permit, there is a weekly rotation between westerly and easterly operations.

• Between 06.00 and 07.00 InJanuary2009,thethenSecretaryofStateconfirmedthatrunwayalternationbetween06.00and07.00wouldremain,subjecttooperationalrequirements.Therefore,ifthereisabuild-upoftrafficintheholdingstacks,orwithinUKandneighbouringairspace,ATC may use both runways to land arriving aircraft in order to maintain a safe and efficient traffic flow.

Each rotation of the overall pattern, taking into account both runway alternation and the rotation of the westerly/easterly preference atnight,resultsinanoverallfour-weekpattern.

The graph below shows the movements on each runway.


ArrivalsOutofAlternationThere are occasions when unforeseen circumstances mean that changes in the procedure need to be made at short notice. For example, it may be necessary for safety reasons to land aircraft on the runway not scheduled for landings. This may occur if an aircraft landing on the designated runway develops a problem which prevents it vacating in time for the next aircraft. The subsequent aircraft will then need to use the other runway until the first aircraft is able to vacate safely.

Sometimestheremaybeabuild-upofairtrafficbeingheldinthestack.Inaccordancewithagreedprocedurestherewillbeoccasions when ATC may land aircraft out of alternation while maintaining the usual high safety standards. In these circumstances, both runways will be used for arrivals for a short period.

Routine maintenance of runways, taxiways or associated equipment is often scheduled to coincide with the pattern of runway alternation. However, there will be occasions when it is not possible in order to facilitate maintenance or works of a longer duration e.g.runwayre-surfacingandworkofanunforeseen,urgentnature.

Weathercanalsoaffecttheuseofalternation.Forexample,occasionallystrongsouth-westerlywindscanblowacrossthevariousbuildingsinHeathrow’smaintenanceareaandaffectaircraftlandingonthenorthernrunwayonwesterlyoperationsduetobuilding-inducedturbulence.Also,infrequently,patchyfogoranoff-airportfirecancauselowervisibilityononerunwaycomparedwiththeother;consequently,ATCmaydecidetode-alternateforsafetyreasons.Thegraphbelowshowsthattheadherencethroughout2015 was fairly consistent with previous years.

2013 2014 2015

60%

70%

65%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

100%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Adherence to Runway Alternation Plan 2015Source:NATS


Cranford AgreementThe Cranford Agreement was a verbal agreement between the Government and the residents of Cranford, which dated from the 1950s. It was designed to protect the residents of Cranford from the high noise levels experienced from departing aircraft.

The agreement was that the northern runway would not be used for departures on easterly operations except in exceptional circumstances, which prevented runway alternation on easterly operations when departures operate, i.e. the majority of the time. However, when there are no departures – i.e. early in the morning – runway alternation is possible as mentioned above.

On15January2009,thethenSecretaryofStateconfirmedthattheCranfordAgreementnolongerappliedandthatthecurrentoperational arrangements should end as soon as reasonably possible. Ending the agreement allows the introduction of full runway alternation on easterlies. The Coalition Government affirmed their support for this in 2010. However, introducing full runway alternation on easterly operations presents challenges in terms of the airport’s infrastructure. The airport is not currently set up to operate with runway alternation on easterlies while maintaining the existing schedule, therefore changes need to be made to the airport’s access and exit taxiways.

TomakethesechangesHeathrowsubmittedaplanningapplicationtotheLondonBoroughofHillingdoninMay2013andthiswasrejectedinMarch2014.SincethenHeathrowhasappealedthedecision.AplanningenquirytookplaceinJune2015andtheoutcome of the enquiry is expected to be announced to be announced in 2016.

DirectionofOperationHistorically, the split has been approximately 70% westerly operations and 30% easterly operations. However, this percentage can vary significantly from day to day and month to month. In 2015 the runway split continued to show a westerly dominance with a 72%-28%averagedivision.TheonlyexceptiontothiswasinOctober2015whichshoweddominanceforeasterlyoperations60%of the time.

East (%)West (%)


89%

11%

71%

29%

62%

38%

53%

47%

82%

18%

72%

28%

86%

14%

73%

27%

58%

42%

40%

60%

96%

4%

86%

14%

DirectionofOperation2015Source:NATS



56

45

51

39

72

4745

42

23

47

75

49

MissedApproaches(Go-arounds)2015Source:NATS

MissedApproaches(Go-arounds)Occasionallyitisnecessaryforanaircrafttocancelitslanding.Thereisanestablishedproceduretofollowwhenthisoccurs,knownasago-around,inwhichtheaircraftabortsthelandingandthenre-joinsthelandingpattern.Ago-aroundisawell-practicedandsafe procedure and is instigated by the pilot or on the instruction of ATC.

Althoughtherearemanyreasonsforago-around,themostcommonreasonisduetotheprecedingaircraftbeingslowtovacatethe runway. In 2014 there were 720 occurrences. This figure fell in 2015 where a total of 591 missed approaches were recorded. NovemberandMaysawhighincidencesofmissedapproachesandthiscanbeattributedtoinclementweather,particularlyrelatingto strong winds as experienced in November.


NoiseAbatement–JoiningPointAlthough there are no set heights for arriving aircraft, the Government has specified the minimum heights at which the aircraft must be established on the final approach. The aim of these requirements is to keep aircraft higher for longer and avoid prolonged periods of level flight, therefore benefiting communities close in to the airport.

• Westerly operations Between06.00and23.30hourslocal,aircraftarerequiredtobeestablishedontheILSnotbelow2,500ftabovemeansealevel.Thisequatestoadistanceofabouteightnauticalmiles.Between23.30and06.00hourslocal,thealtitudeisraisedto3,000ftabovemeansealeveltogetherwithanadditionalrequirementtojointheILSnoclosertotherunwaythan10nauticalmiles.

• Easterly operations Between07.00and23.00hourslocal,aircraftarerequiredtobeestablishedontheILSnotbelow2,500ftabovemeansealevel.Thisequatestoadistanceofabouteightnauticalmiles.Between23.00and07.00hourslocal,thealtitudeisraisedto3,000ftabovemeansealeveltogetherwithanadditionalrequirementtojointheILSnoclosertotherunwaythantennauticalmiles.

The peaks seen below during the summer months are due to the way in which pressure changes affect the altitude readout shown ontheNATSradar.TheydonotreflectanactualincreaseinaircraftwhicharelowwhenjoiningtheILS.Theseflights,whilstnotstrictly low, are included in the data in the interests of transparency.

ThejoiningpointfiguresallremainwithintherangethatistypicalforHeathrow.ItshouldbenotedthatweincludedataonILScalibrationflightsthatbynecessityhavetoflyprescribedunusualprofilestochecktheILS.

0

2

8

6

10

4

14

18

12

16

Month

Perc

enta

ge

on

Jo

inin

g P

oin

t

DayLates DayLows NightLates NightLows

Jan

14

Feb

14

Mar

14

Apr

14

May

14

Jun

14

Jul 1

4

Aug

14

Sep

14

Oct

14

Nov

14

Dec

14

Jan

15

Feb

15

Mar

15

Apr

15

May

15

Jun

15

Jul 1

5

Aug

15

Sep

15

Oct

15

Nov

15

Dec

15

JoiningPointSource:ANOMS


NoiseAbatement–ContinuousDescentApproaches(CDA)ACDAisatechniqueduringwhichapilotdescendsataratewiththeintentionofachievingacontinuousdescenttojointheglide-path at the correct height for the distance. This procedure avoids the need for extended periods of level flight. The intention of a CDA is to keep aircraft higher for longer, thereby reducing arrival noise.

In addition to aiding noise reduction, CDAs reduce fuel burn, thereby cutting emissions and producing an overall environmental benefit.

A descent is deemed to have been continuous provided that no segment of level flight longer than 2.5 nautical miles occurs below 6000ft above mean sea level and level flight is interpreted as any segment of flight having a height change of not more than 50ft overatrackdistanceoftwonauticalmilesormoreasrecordedintheairportNTKsystem.

The graph below shows that CDA numbers remain consistent and reflects the fact that CDA achievement is more difficult at busy times when the airspace is congested, and that performance during the summer months is slightly higher than during the winter months, when achievement may be more affected by adverse weather.

23.00-07.00 Core Night07.00-23.00 06.00 Hour

75

80

85

90

95

100

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20152014

Perc

enta

ge

CDA – Continuous Descent ApproachSource:ANOMS


TrackKeepingAllaircraftdepartingfromHeathrowuseoneofanumberofStandardInstrumentDepartures(SID).EachSIDhasanoisepreferentialroute(NPR)associatedwithit.UnlessrequiredforsafetyanaircraftmustremainwithintheNPRuntiltheyreachanaltitudeof4,000ftabovemeansealevel(amsl).Onceabove4,000ftamslaircraftmaybedirectedofftheNPRbyATCasrequired. AtHeathrowtherearesixNPRsfromeachrunway.EachNPRhasathreekilometre-wideswatheupto4000ftamsl.Larger,heavieraircraft generally take longer to climb than smaller, lighter aircraft and so will remain within the NPR for longer. TheNTKsystemisusedtodetectanyaircrafttrackwhichdeviatesfromanNPR.Informationregardingtrackdeviationsissenttotheairline and statistics showing track keeping performance are shared regularly. Track deviations occur for a variety of reasons. They may be necessary for weather avoidance or strong winds, and the speed and weight of the aircraft are also significant factors. For example, modern faster aircraft will have a wider radius of turn than an older, slower aircraft; modern aircraft require more space to make tight turns. This is noticeable on the westerly Detling NPR, where some aircraft balloon out of the NPR as they make the turn.

AnotherNPRofnoteforHeathrowistheCompton(CPT)NPRforeasterlyoperations.Trafficdepartingonthisroutegenerallyhas to be directed by ATC to avoid traffic arriving from the holding stacks to the south of the airport, as well as modern aircraft beingunabletoflythetight180-degreeturndirectlyafterdeparture.ConsequentlytrackkeepingonthisNPRisnevertothesame standard as the others. The graph below shows track keeping figures with and without Compton departures for comparison purposes.

With the exception of the specifics mentioned above, the figures show good levels of achievement, and track keeping has remained broadly consistent across recent years with minor fluctuations.

Annual total excluding CPTAnnual total including CPT

2011

95.2%

97.9%

2012

93.3%

98.0%

2013

94.5%

97.5%

20152014

94.9%

98.0%

95.1%

97.7%

Perc

enta

ge O

n Tr

ack

AnnualOnTrackDeparturesSource:ANOMS


NoiseInfringements:DayandNightFPhashistoricallyassessedaircraftnoiseintwodifferentways:annualairnoisecontoursanddeparturenoiselimits.Noisecontourreports are available on our website.

Aircraft departing from Heathrow are subject to noise limits set by the DfT. The current limits were introduced early in 2001. There arethreelimitsinplacefortheday,shoulderandnight-timeperiods.

Thelimitsare(alltimeslocal):

•Day(07.00-23.00hours)94dBA(LMax) •Shoulder(23.00-23.30,06.00-07.00hours)89dBA(LMax) •Night(23.30-06.00hours)87dBA(LMax)

Heathrow now has 12 permanent noise monitors which are used to monitor adherence to the departure noise limits. The noise limits are based on the assumption that the noise monitors are exactly 6.5km from the start of the roll point on the runway and at the same elevation as the airfield. In practice, this is rarely possible and so adjustments are made to the limits to take account of any variances in the monitor position.

Furthermore,eachmonitorhasanadditionalcalibrationallowanceof0.7dBAaddedtothelimittoprovideamarginoferrorforthemicrophone. An aircraft is deemed to have infringed the limits for the time period if it exceeds the limit at any of the permanent monitors.

Additionallyiftheaircraftwasrequiredtotakeoffwithatailwind(measuredattheairfieldanemometersandwindvanesaccordingtotheformula:(windspeedxcosine(runwayheadingminuswinddirection))x-1)anamountofupto2dBAofthenoiserecordedatthenoisemonitorshouldbedisregarded.Theamounttobedisregardedis:

•0.4dBforatailwindofupto1knot •0.8dBforatailwindexceeding1knotbutnotexceeding2knots •1.2dBforatailwindexceeding2knotsbutnotexceeding3knots •1.6dBforatailwindexceeding3knotsbutnotexceeding4knots •2.0dBforatailwindexceeding4knots.

In the event that an airline infringes one of the limits, they are charged a noise supplement, with all proceeds going to the CommunityandEnvironmentAwards,LargeGrantsScheme,whichfundscommunityprojectsinareasaffectedbytheairport’soperations. A total of £106,500 was invested back into community projects during 2015.

Thehighernumberofinfringementsduringthenight-time,seenonthenextpage,isreflectiveofthenumberoflarge,heavy,long-haulaircraftwhichdepartlatertofitschedulesaroundtheworldoraredisruptedfromtheirplannedscheduleofoperation(e.g. aspikeininfringementswillbeseenduringstorms,snow,securitythreatsetc.)andsodepartintheperiodswithdecreasedlimits.

In 2015 there were 36 noise infringements, one more than 2014. Despite the minor increase, this figure still represents a 50% decrease in infringements compared to 2011. FP continues to work with airlines to reduce this figure further.


Day

9

Night Total Annual

Num

ber

of In

frin

gem

ents

Perc

enta

ge C

ompl

ianc

e

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

100

99.9

99.8

99.7

99.6

99.5

99.4

27

3699.996

99.650

99.985

Noise Infringements 2015Source:ANOMS

Day-time Shoulder Night

Previous From 27 Oct 2014 Previous From 27 Oct 2014 Previous From 27 Oct 2014

0.1to3.0dBAexcess = £500 £500perdBA

excess


excess


excessMorethan3.0dBAexcess = £1000

Morethan3.0dBAexcess = £1000

Morethan3.0dBAexcess = £1000

On27thOctober2014Heathrowintroducedincreasednoisefines,foraircraftthatbreaktheDfTsetnoiselimitsatHeathrow. A table showing the previous penalties and the current levels are shown below.

4% Climb GradientAspertheHeathrowAeronauticalInformationPublication(AIP),aircraftdepartingHeathrowarerequiredtomaintainagradientclimb of not less than 4% to an altitude of not less than 4000ft. During 2016, Heathrow will be working the DfT, the CAA and partnerairlinestodevelopawayofmeasuringthisthroughANOMS.


Ground NoiseGroundnoisedescribesnoisegeneratedatgroundlevelasaresultoftheairport’soperation.Unlikethenoiselimitsthatapplytodeparting aircraft, there are no limits on other sources of noise that originate from the airport. However, it is clearly important that a balance is struck between the interests of the local community and the needs of airport users, therefore various controls have been adopted.

Generallyspeakingthemainfactorscontributingtoaircraftnoiseonthegroundare:

Reverse Thrust Aircraft use reverse thrust to increase their braking action when they land. Pilots are asked not to use reverse thrust between the hoursof23.00-06.00wherereasonablypracticable.Theuseofreversethrustisclassifiedasairnoiseasitispartofthelandingphaseof flight and, as such, any associated noise is considered during the production of the annual noise contours.

Ground Movement We work closely with airport stand planners to ensure ground taxi times are reduced. This has benefits in terms of noise reduction, fuel burn and emissions. We also work with our airline partners to encourage initiatives such as reduced engine taxiing.

Aircraft sitting on their stands with their power units running AnAuxillaryPowerUnit(APU)isasmalljetenginelocatedinthetailofmostaircraft.Thisengineisusedtopowervitalsystemswhilstthemainenginesareswitchedoff.HeathrowencouragestheuseofFixedElectricalGroundPower(FEGP)andPreConditionedAir(PCA)whichhelpscutfuelusage,groundnoiseandemissions.

Engine testing Engine testing associated with maintenance is strictly controlled and limited, with high power runs taking place in acoustically designed pens.


Night FlightsNightflightsareclassedasthosewhichtakeofforlandbetween23:00and07:00hourslocal.Whilstthereisnotandneverhasbeenaban on flights during this period, the DfT is responsible for making the restrictions on the types of aircraft that can be scheduled to fly at night.

It is recognised that noise created by aircraft at night may cause more disturbance to some people because there is less background noise from other sources and the majority of people will be trying to sleep. Similarly, night noise may appear worse in the summer because people tend to sleep with windows open more frequently. Therefore, in setting the restrictions the aim has been to maintain a balance between the need to protect local communities from too much aircraft noise at night and the operation of services where they provide economic benefits.

AircraftarecertifiedbyICAOaccordingtothenoisetheyproduce.Theyareclassifiedseparatelyfortake-offandlanding.QuotaCountPoints are allocated to different aircraft types according to how noisy they are. The noisier the aircraft type, the higher the points allocated. This provides an incentive for airlines to use quieter aircraft types.

The current night restriction regime began in Winter 2006/07. Different restrictions apply to different time periods. During the night periodthenoisiesttypesofaircraft(classifiedQC8andQC16)maynotbescheduledtolandortakeoff.

Thenightquotaperiod(NQP)isfrom23:30to06:00hourslocalwhereaircraftmovementsarerestrictedbyalimitonthenumberofmovements with noise quotas as an additional measure. The night flying restrictions are divided into summer and winter seasons.

Neitheroftheselimitsmaybeexceeded.ThesummerseasonistheperiodofBritishSummerTimeinanyoneyear.ThewinterseasonistheperiodbetweentheendofBritishSummerTimeinoneyearandthestartofBritishSummerTimeinthenext.

Byfarthelargestcontributiontonightflightsisarrivals,whichtendtobeintheearlymorning.Therealsotendtobemorenightflightsduringthesummerseasonthanthewinter.However,ascanbeseenfromthegraphsbelowmovementandQuotaCountUsagecontinueto be lower than the permitted limit.

Actual UseQuota Count Limits

S10S09S08S07

5610 5227.55460

4634

5460

4429.25

5340

4504.75

S13 S15S14S12S11

5220

4491

5100

3946.25

5100

2802

5100

3242.5

5100

3917

Cou

nt o

f N

ight

Quo

ta

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

SummerSeasonQuotaUsageSource:ANOMS


Actual UseMovement Limits

S10S09S08S07

3250

3047

3250

2922

3250

2848

3250

3033

S15S14S12S11

3250

2958

3250

2853

3250

2837

3250

2847

3250

2714

Num

ber

of N

ight

Mov

emen

ts

3,300

3,200

3,100

3,000

2,900

2,700

2,500

2,800

2,600

2,400S13

SummerSeasonMovementUsageSource:ANOMS

Actual UseQuota Count Limits

W09W08W07W06

44204266 4514 4100.25

4936

3947.5

4547

3863.25

W14W12W11W10

4682

3735.25

4839

3374.5

4620

3310.75

4488

3070.5

4488

2939.5

Cou

nt o

f N

ight

Quo

ta

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0W13

WinterSeasonQuotaUsage(includingcarry-over)Source:ANOMS


Actual UseMovement Limits

W09W08W07W06

2712

2659

27472710

2875

2715

2875

2686

W14W12W11W10

2767

2577

2842

2581

2875

2670

2810

2676

2810

2715

Num

ber

of N

ight

Mov

emen

ts

2,900

2,850

2,800

2,750

2,700

2,650

2,600

2,550

2,500

2,450

2,400W13

WinterSeasonMovementUsage(includingcarry-over)Source:ANOMS

• End of season flexibility Upto10%ofthecurrentseason’smovementlimitmaybecarriedoverifunused.AtHeathrow,thereisoftenacarry-overfromthesummer to the winter season, but rarely from the winter to the summer season.

• Overrun of movements Upto10%ofthenextseason’smovementlimitmaybeanticipatedintheeventofanoverrun.Anyexcessoverrunispenalisedinthe following season at double the amount of the excess. The same arrangements apply to the noise quotas.

• Exempt aircraft Aircraftareexemptfromthemovementslimitsandnoisequotasiftheirnoisecertificationdataislessthan84EPNdB,i.e.lessthanQC 0.25.

• Dispensations The Secretary of State has the power to state circumstances in which movements may be disregarded from the night restrictions. These are in exceptional circumstances only and disregarded movements include emergencies, delays which are likely to lead to serious congestion at the airport or serious hardship or suffering to passengers or animals or which result from widespread and prolonged disruption of air traffic. Heathrow Airport strictly monitors compliance with all current Government restrictions, reporting regularly to the DfT. A list of dispensation reasons can be found in the glossary.

The movements shown on the next page were exempt from the restrictions, or dispensed either due to delays, emergencies, or by the DfT. Following the poor weather experienced in 2014 which saw a rise in summer exemptions, summer 2015 saw improved weather and because of this the exemption figures reduced. This also resulted in an improvement in delay figures.


Exempt Delays DfT Emergency

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

W06 W08W07 W09 W11W10 W14W13W12

Mov

emen

ts

WinterDisregardedMovementsSource:ANOMS

Exempt Delays DfT Emergency

0

50

100

150

200

250

S06 S08S07 S09 S11S10 S12 S15S14S13

Mov

emen

ts

SummerDisregardedMovementsSource:ANOMS

Night Flight ConsultationEvery five years, the government consults on the provision of night flights. The DfT is due to consult on the night flight regime in 2016forentryintoserviceinOctober2017.TheFPteamwillrespondtothisconsultationonbehalfofHeathrowAirport.


BackgroundTherearethreemaintiersofregulationwhichgovernaircraftnoiseintheUK:international,Europeanandnational.

International RegulationTheInternationalCivilAviationOrganizationhassetprogressivelytightercertificationstandardsfornoiseemissionsfromcivilaircraftandrequiresMemberStatestoadopta‘balancedapproach’tonoisemanagement.Thebalancedapproachgoesbeyondindividualaircraftandconsiders:

•Reducingaircraftnoiseatsource •Landplanninguse •Changestooperationalprocedures •Restrictionsontheuseofthenoisiestaircraft.

European RegulationTheEUhasissuedvariousdirectivesrelatingtoenvironmentalissuesandisincreasinglyassumingresponsibilityfortheregulationofaircraftnoisestandards.MemberStatesareobligedtocomplywiththerequirementsofthedirectivesandincorporatethemintonational legislation.

National RegulationTheaimofsuccessiveUKgovernmentssincethe1960shasbeentostrikeabalancebetweentheneedsofanefficientaviationindustry, providing jobs and serving the local, regional and national economy, and the need to minimise the impact on the environmentandcommunitiesaroundairports.TheSecretaryofStatehasusedpowersundersections78-80oftheCivilAviationAct 1982 to make Heathrow a ‘designated airport’. This designated status means that the Secretary of State has direct responsibility for noise control at Heathrow and also has powers to introduce noise control measures to limit or mitigate the effect of noise and vibration connected with aircraft taking off or landing at Heathrow.

TheSecretaryofStatehasusedthesepowerstospecifyvariousnoiseabatementmeasures.Thesemeasuresinclude:

•Nightflyingrestrictions •Departurenoiselimits •NPRsandrelatedrequirementsfordepartingaircraft •Continuousdescentandlowpowerlowdragapproachprocedures •PolicyonhowATCdirectsarrivingtraffic •Powersforairportoperatorstochargeairlinesbyreferencetonoiseemissions •Therequirementtooperatenoisemonitorsandreportoutputs •Therequirementtorunandmaintainatrackkeepingsystem •Directionstoairportmanagerstotakemeasurestolimitormitigatenoisefromlandingordepartingaircraft.

HeathrowAirportLimited(HAL)StrategyAlthoughtheDfThasdirectcontrolovernoiseatHeathrow,wehaveadetailednoisemanagementstrategy.Sincethemid-1990s,FPhasbeenresponsiblefordeliveringthepolicysetoutbytheDfT,themainfunctionsbeing:

•Tomonitor,evaluateandreportonATCandairlineoperatingproceduresandcompliancewithpolicyrequirements. •ToprovidetechnicalanalysistoHeathrow’sCommunicationsdepartmentforonwarddisseminationtomembersofthepublic

whose enquiries relate to how airport operations may affect them. •Topromotebestpracticewithregardtonoiseabatementprocedures.Thisinvolvesworkingcloselywithairlines,NATSand

other industry stakeholders on joint industry initiatives. •Toinitiate,analyseandassessnewnoiseinitiatives.

Noise Action Plan


Communications Heathrow’s dedicated noise website, www.heathrow.com/noise, is managed by the Heathrow Communications Team but the operational details are supplied by FP.

Examplesofinformationsuppliedin2015are:

•Operationaldata. •Quarterlydatareports. •ThisAnnualReport. •WebTrak–afacilitywhichenablesinvestigationofflightsoveraparticularareausingdatafromtheNATSradarfeed. •WebTrakMyNeighbourhood–anonlinetoolthatallowstheusertoseelongertermtrendsinairtrafficaroundHeathrow. •Detailedaircrafttrackingmaps,producedonourbehalfbytheEnvironmentalResearchConsultancyDivision(ERCD)oftheCivil

AviationAuthority(CAA)whichinclude: • where aircraft actually fly; • how high and in what numbers; • operations spilt into westerly and easterly arrivals and departures; and • a question and answer sheet explaining the information.

In2015FPhaddirectcontactwiththelocalcommunitythroughtheHeathrowCommunityNoiseForum(HCNF),whichwassetupinresponsetotheairspacetrialsrunin2014,theHeathrowAirportConsultativeCommittee(HACC)andtheHeathrowNoiseForum.FP supports Heathrow Community Communications in response to enquiries from members of the public on all aspects of our operationsand,whereappropriate,demonstrationsoftheNTKsystemwereprovidedtointerestedgroupsandindividualsandnoisemonitors deployed.

The Plan Astheairportoperator,HALwasrequiredbytheEnvironmentalNoise(England)Regulations2006toproduceaNoiseActionPlan(NAP)basedonstrategicnoisemapsproducedbytheSecretaryofState.

The second Heathrow NAP was adopted in 2014 and FP remains responsible for a number of actions. A selection of work undertaken last year is given below.

Community Noise Monitoring Programme The NAP requires Heathrow to maintain a community noise and track monitoring programme. This programme is designed to help Heathrow and the local communities better understand and explain how particular areas are affected by aircraft noise. This involves deploying mobile noise monitors to different sites around the airport. Data from sites is gathered, independently analysed and then assessed for noise by ERCD.

In2015fourmonitorsweredeployed,toRichingsPark,Brockley,WindleshamandEnglefieldGreen.FPwouldliketothankthelandowners who supported this project. The reports will be compiled, but previous reports are available and if they are not visible on the website please contact the Communications Team and request the information. The picture on the next page shows a typical set-upofanoisemonitor.


In line with the NAP, we plan to deploy two community noise monitors in 2016.

In2016Heathrowwillbestartingtheprocessofprocuringover25newstate-of-the-artnoisemonitors.ThisnewequipmentwillenableHeathrowtofurtherdevelopitsNMTstrategy.

Noise MetricsHeathrow Airport is committed in the NAP to establish a range of supplementary metrics which meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders to describe the noise impact of Heathrow. These metrics were established independently through focus groups.

TherecommendationsfromthisworkhaveinitiallybeenincorporatedintotheCommunityNoiseMonitoringProgrammereports.Workcontinuedthrough2015toincorporatethesemetricsintoanenhancementtoWebTrakknownasWebTrakMyNeighbourhood.

Noise Contours In accordance with the NAP, FP commissions this work on an annual basis. The latest information is available on the website.

Flight Performance Quarterly ReportFP publishes quarterly performance reports as part of its NAP commitments and these can be found in the ‘Reports’ section of the Heathrow noise website.

Departures Code of Practice TheDeparturesCodeofPracticewaswrittenintotheConditionsofUsedocumentin2014.AlloperatorsutilisingHeathrowcontinueto voluntarily adhere to the published principle for departures along with its sister code which relates to arrivals.

Night Noise Consultation responseIn response to the government’s last Night Noise Consultation, we stated that we would work towards a Steeper Approach Trial. This work began in 2014 and more detail is provided in the Airspace section of this report.


Fly QuietThe Fly Quiet programme was launched in November 2013. It is one of the steps Heathrow is taking to reduce aircraft noise, as set out in ‘A Quieter Heathrow’, a report published early in 2013. It is intended to further encourage airlines to use quieter aircraft and to fly them in the quietest possible way. FP continued to produce the Fly Quiet league tables in 2015 and engaged with airlines with the objective of improving their performance in areas represented by the six Fly Quiet metrics, which has led to some significant improvements, particularly in the CDA compliance metric. FP has recently commissioned a study on the effectiveness of the Fly Quiet programme; this study was completed in 2015. The findings and conclusions will form the basis for the evaluation of potential changes to the programme, which will be a major undertaking in 2016.

Further information is available from www.heathrowairport.com/noise

Noise BlueprintIn2014,aNoiseBlueprintwaspublishedwiththeaimofreducingaircraftnoisebySummer2015.TheBlueprintformsaten-pointplantocutnoiseandislinkedtoactionsfromtheNoiseActionPlan.TheBlueprintaimstospeeduptheworkontheseactionsandchallengesusandeveryoneweworkwithtobequieter,sooner.Theplanincludes:

•Earlyphase-outofthenoisiestplanes. •FittingquiettechnologytoA320s. •Campaignforquietapproaches. •Campaigntodelayloweringoflandinggear. •Exploringsteeperanglesofdescent. •Betterdistributionofnight-timelandingnoise. •Completionofschools’doubleglazingprogramme. •Moreadobebuildingsinlocalprimaries. •Biggerfinesfornoisydepartures. •Campaigntoreducelatedepartures.


ReportingisundertakenbyFPonanad-hoc,weekly,monthly,annualandseasonalbasis.Performanceisalsoreviewedinahistoricalcontext, looking back at several years’ worth of data.

OurReportingOnaweeklybasistheteamreportsondailypunctualityandmovementsagainsttheairport’sKPItargetof79%departurepunctuality.Acommentaryisalsoprovidedondayswheretheairportmayfallshortofthistarget.Onamonthlybasisacomprehensivelistofperformancemetricsarereported,includingHeathrow’sAirsideKPIs.Aselectionofthesemetricsispresentedon the following pages.

There is a large amount of data to process in order to produce these reports. FP continued to make significant improvements to reportingprocessesin2015,withmanyofthereportsnowsemi-automatedtoincreasetheteam’sutilisation.

Inadditiontothesetimelyreports,theteamalsoassistsotherareasofthebusinesswithad-hocanalysisandreportingonairfieldperformance.

Arrival and Departure PunctualityOneofourKPIs(keyperformanceindicators)isourairportdeparturepunctuality.Thisisacombinedfigurewhichconsiderson-timeperformanceofallATMs(predominantlypassengerflights)onamonthlybasis.Adepartingflightisconsideredpunctualifitleavesthe departure gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure time. Similarly, an arrival flight is considered punctual if it arrives atitsarrivalgatewithin15minutesofitsscheduledtime.Allearlyflightsareconsideredpunctualunderthismeasure.Ouraveragedeparture and arrival punctuality in 2015 was 78.03% and 74.21% respectively.

Airfield Performance

Monthly %age of Arrivals ≤ + 15 mins Monthly %age of Departures ≤ + 15 mins

Punc

tual

ity

– Pe

rcen

tage

Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15 Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 15 Sep 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15

79.2

%

72.3

%

84.4

%

80.6

%

76.7

%

80.4

%

71.1

%

77.2

%

70.4

%

76.3

%

75.4

%

67.1

%

68.5

%

73.0

%

73.3

%

76.3

%

73.6

%

82.2

%

79.0

%

77.6

%

71.1

%

82.1

%

78.8

%

80.3

%

Departures – Target % of Departures ≤ + 15 mins % of Arrivals ≤ + 15 mins

Arrivals and Departures Punctuality x<=+15 minsSource:HAL


Arrivals Departures

Percentage of arrivals ≥ -15 minutes and ≥ +15 minutesPercentage of arrivals ≤ +15 minutes

America Middle EastEurope UK

73.5%71.1%

78.3% 78.6%

74.3%

77.6%

66.1%

78.5%

Far East South AmericaAfrica

65.9%

76.9%

80.1%83.1%

78.6% 79.5%

Punc

tual

ity

(per

cent

age)

Regional Arrival Punctuality 2015Source:DidFly

Regional PunctualityOn-timeperformancefromdifferentregionsoftheworldcanvarysignificantlythroughouttheyear.Thisisusuallydependentonfactors such as weather conditions, the political climate, airspace issues and foreign airport performance. Capturing this information helps us to understand how our performance may be affected by other regions.

Taxi DurationTaxi times to and from the runway to the gate are monitored by the airport. Each terminal has a different taxi time profile on departure and arrival. This profile is primarily determined by its geographic location on the airfield and its proximity to the runway holding points. For this reason, taxi in and out durations are heavily influenced by the runway in use. Taxi in times are generally quicker than taxi out as there is often queuing required on departure. All four terminals have very little difference between them in both taxi and taxi out.


AirTrafficFlowManagement(ATFM)delay

ATFM delay – other reasonsDelay - HAL regs only, reason = weather

Tota

l ATF

M D

elay

(min

utes

)

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

Ave

rage

ATF

M D

elay

Per

Arr

ival

(min

utes

)

0

1

3

2

5

4

6

7


Average ATFM delay per arrival (all reasons)

ATFMDelayonArrivalsResultingfromHeathrowRegulationsSource:NetworkManager,Eurocontrol

ATFMdelayisaresultofrestrictionsimposedonflightsintoHeathrowduetotacticalcapacityconstraints.Thesecapacityrestrictionsare predominantly due to weather at Heathrow. In 2015, flights inbound to Heathrow were subject to an average of 2.1 minutes of delay per flight.


Stack Holding

Aircraft unable to land immediately on arrival at Heathrow due to periods of high demand are placed in one of our arrival stacks. An aircraft arriving into Heathrow will queue for an average of 4.3 minutes in a stack. In 2015, 56% of aircraft arriving into Heathrow entered a stack. This has remained broadly consistent with 2014 figures.

Monthly Holding Average (mins)

Ave

rage

Sta

ck H

oldi

ng (m

inut

es)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Max

imum

Sta

ck H

oldi

ng (m

inut

es)

0

10

30

20

50

40

60


4.50 4.04 4.73 4.37 4.38 3.82 3.97 4.61 3.99 4.22 5.05 3.96

Max Monthly Hold Time (mins)

Stack Holding 2015Source:HAL


Line-UpTimes(LUTs)We work with airlines to ensure efficient use of airport capacity. In terms of operational performance, runway utilisation is a key area of focus.

Working with NATS, FP has developed new, more meaningful measurement of pilot performance which airlines have recognised as industry leading analysis.

TheLUTisthetimeittakesforanaircrafttocorrectlypositionitselfontherunwayreadyfortake-off,followingclearancefromATC.This performance metric is of high importance as any wasted time is transferred to all the following aircraft and impacts our ability to deliver our operational schedule. FP was alerted to certain carriers where performance was poor relative to the aircraft type they operated.Asaresultin2015FPworkedtogetherwithseveralairlinestoimprovetheirLUT.

CDMReportingDuring2015FPcontinuedtoreportonselectedmetricsassociatedwithCDM(CollaborativeDecisionMaking).AirportCDMisaboutpartners(airportoperators,aircraftoperators/groundhandlers,ATCandtheNetworkOperations)workingtogethermoreefficientlyandtransparentlyinthewaytheyworkandsharedata.TheAirportCDMprojectaimstoimprovetheoverallefficiencyofoperationsatanairport,withaparticularfocusontheaircraftturnaroundandpre-departuresequencingprocesswhichwillleadtoanimprovedon-timedeparturerateandimprovedsequencingintheUKandEuropeanairspace.

Airline PerformanceTheAirlinePunctualityLeagueTableisthewayFPcomparesrelativepunctualitybetweenairlines.Anairline’spositionintheleaguetableisdependentprimarilyonitsdeparturepunctualitybutconsidersotheron-timeperformancemeasures.FPmonitorstheairlinerankings on a monthly basis and escalates any significant drops or rises in the rankings.

FP’s seasonal performance reports summarise airline punctuality and evaluate flight by flight performance over the winter and summer seasons. These reports are used to target poor operations throughout the schedule.

The tables shown on the following pages show one month’s worth of data and do not reflect the whole year’s performance. They are intended to show examples of the metrics only.


Arrivals

Rank [v MAA (pos.)]

52-week High

52-week Low

Airline Code

Airline Name TERMEARLY ARR

PUNCT.

ARR PUNCT.

ARR A/C MVMT

ARR DELAY (MINS)

AVG. ARR DELAY/MVMT

1 h (40) 1 68 MU China Eastern 4 67.74% 100.00% 31 5 00:00:102 h (28) 2 80 A3 Aegean Air 2 32.38% 98.10% 105 204 00:01:573 h (15) 3 25 KL KLM 4 22.51% 91.52% 342 1,392 00:04:044 –(4) 4 4 I2 Iberia Express 5 35.48% 90.32% 62 266 00:04:175 h (29) 5 50 QR Qatar 4 43.01% 90.32% 186 904 00:04:526 h (19) 6 59 KM AirMalta 4 5.00% 90.00% 60 379 00:06:197 h (15) 5 51 IB Iberia 5 14.16% 89.27% 233 1,004 00:04:428 h (25) 2 45 OS Austrian Airlines 2 4.49% 88.76% 89 545 00:06:079 h (24) 1 58 KQ KenyaAirways 4 19.35% 87.10% 31 167 00:05:2310 h (25) 8 50 JU Air Serbia 4 6.45% 87.10% 31 216 00:06:5811 h (26) 2 75 NZ Air New Zealand 2 32.26% 87.10% 31 225 00:07:1512 h (29) 1 65 J2 AzerbaijanAirways 4 9.52% 85.71% 21 115 00:05:2913 h (40) 13 61 TK Turkish Airlines 2 16.15% 85.09% 161 1,456 00:09:0014 h (15) 4 48 AV Avianca 2 74.19% 83.87% 31 186 00:06:0015 h (24) 5 81 DL Delta Airlines 3,4 34.51% 83.60% 284 2,280 00:08:0216 h (39) 16 66 AZ Alitalia 4 12.24% 83.67% 147 846 00:05:4517 h (32) 17 72 LH Lufthansa 2 9.29% 83.46% 538 3,786 00:07:0218 h (55) 13 77 FB BulgariaAirways 4 16.67% 83.33% 24 176 00:07:2019 h (44) 6 76 LO LOTPolishAirlines 2 13.25% 83.13% 83 635 00:07:3920 h (24) 11 76 EI AerLingus 2 11.60% 82.84% 612 4,669 00:07:3821 h (36) 20 52 AF Air France 4 5.15% 82.83% 233 1,872 00:08:0222 h (56) 22 75 QF Qantas 3 40.32% 82.26% 62 744 00:12:0023 h (26) 7 50 BA BritishAirways 3,5 16.78% 81.47% 9337 89,557 00:09:3524 i (19) 3 32 UA UnitedAirlines 2 32.82% 81.37% 451 7,006 00:15:3225 i (15) 4 25 VS Virgin Atlantic 2,3 41.84% 80.82% 631 6,580 00:10:2626 h (34) 20 73 TP TAP Air Portugal 2 19.88% 80.75% 161 1,483 00:09:1327 h (36) 6 60 4U GermanwingsGMBH 2 9.66% 80.67% 236 2,116 00:08:5328 –(28) 1 79 VY Vueling Airlines 3 8.70% 80.43% 46 274 00:05:5729 h (30) 4 62 UL SriLankanAirlines 3 25.64% 79.49% 39 571 00:14:3830 h (47) 1 70 GF Gulf Air 4 0.00% 79.00% 62 1,025 00:16:2231 h (47) 8 70 MS Egypt Air 2 10.61% 78.79% 66 727 00:11:0132 h (36) 17 56 LY El Al 4 12.00% 78.00% 50 444 00:06:5333 h (39) 15 56 LX Swiss International 2 4.26% 77.84% 352 4,016 00:11:2534 h (43) 29 66 SN BrusselsAirlines 2 11.24% 77.53% 89 841 00:09:2735 h (43) 15 68 AM AeroviasDeMexico 4 36.36% 77.27% 22 258 00:11:4436 h (42) 29 73 AT RoyalAirMaroc 4 4.88% 75.61% 41 490 00:11:5737 i (30) 3 52 MK AirMauritius 4 12.50% 75.00% 16 163 00:10:1138 h (44) 15 72 OU Croatia Airlines 2 0.00% 74.36% 39 445 00:11:2539 i (25) 1 69 JJ TAMBrazilian 2 38.71% 74.19% 31 332 00:09:4540 i (30) 7 48 AA American Airlines 3 25.56% 73.46% 520 10,520 00:20:1441 i (30) 4 49 SK SAS Scandinavian 2 2.64% 72.91% 454 5,574 00:12:1742 h (54) 35 70 EK Emirates 3 7.10% 72.90% 155 1,779 00:11:2943 h (61) 43 77 CA Air China 2 19.35% 72.58% 62 812 00:13:0644 h (66) 17 78 EY Etihad 4 12.90% 70.97% 93 932 00:10:0145 i (41) 14 60 BI RoyalBrunei 4 3.23% 70.97% 31 440 00:14:1246 i (27) 4 71 AY Finnair 3 1.39% 69.44% 144 1,689 00:11:44


Rank [v MAA (pos.)]

52-week High

52-week Low

Airline Code

Airline Name TERMEARLY ARR

PUNCT.

ARR PUNCT.

ARR A/C MVMT

ARR DELAY (MINS)

AVG. ARR DELAY/MVMT

47 h (60) 30 77 KU KuwaitAirways 4 18.18% 68.18% 44 601 00:13:4048 –(48) 48 48 EW Eurowings 2 0.50% 67.84% 199 2,938 049 i (46) 9 70 MK MEAMiddleEastAirlines 3 6.45% 67.74% 62 683 00:10:3250 i (24) 2 74 JL JALJapanAirlines 3 16.13% 67.74% 31 380 00:12:1551 i (48) 19 68 AC Air Canada 2 12.59% 66.30% 270 6,527 00:24:1052 i (27) 2 67 KE KoreanAir 4 13.79% 65.52% 29 353 00:12:1053 i (45) 6 71 FI Iceland air 2 0.00% 65.52% 58 976 00:16:5054 i (35) 1 57 SU Aeroflot 4 7.79% 64.94% 77 984 00:12:4755 h (68) 54 80 TU Tunisair 4 0.00% 64.71% 17 239 00:14:0456 i (51) 20 72 WY OmanAir 3 3.23% 64.52% 31 600 00:19:2157 i (55) 35 76 CK Cathay Pacific 3 18.79% 64.43% 149 3,113 00:20:5458 i (15) 2 58 SA South African Airlines 2 1.64% 62.30% 61 1,474 00:24:1059 i (52) 15 71 SV Saudi Arabian Airlines 4 6.45% 61.29% 62 1,061 00:17:0760 i (59) 23 77 9W JetAirways 4 10.75% 60.22% 90 1,844 00:19:5061 i (46) 20 72 KT Ethiopian Airlines 2 6.45% 58.06% 31 606 00:19:3162 h (63) 51 78 RJ RoyalJordanian 3 6.45% 58.60% 31 668 00:21:3363 h (65) 33 79 IR Iran Air 3 7.14% 57.14% 14 227 00:16:1364 i (40) 3 72 SQ Singapore Airlines 2 7.26% 56.45% 124 2,198 00:17:4465 i (44) 19 67 RO Tarom 4 6.90% 56.17% 29 527 00:18:1066 i (55) 21 73 CZ China Southern 4 9.68% 54.84% 31 606 00:19:3367 i (58) 11 81 BA BimanBangladesh 4 5.88% 52.94% 17 504 00:29:3968 i (32) 1 68 NH ANA All NipponAirlines 2 9.68% 51.61% 31 477 00:15:2369 i (42) 11 70 TG Thai International 2 8.06% 50.00% 62 1,167 00:18:4970 i (44) 10 70 AI Air India 4 13.71% 50.00% 124 3,908 00:31:3171 i (36) 1 72 PR Philippine Airlines 4 22.73% 50.00% 22 1,178 00:53:3372 i (35) 14 72 NY UzbekistanAirways 4 0.00% 44.44% 9 216 00:24:0073 i (57) 29 77 OZ Asiana Airlines 2 3.23% 38.71% 31 1,031 00:33:1574 i (42) 1 74 KC CJSCAirAsiana 4 0.00% 38.46% 13 673 00:51:4675 i (44) 2 80 HH EVA Air 2 0.00% 35.48% 31 812 00:26:1276 i (60) 23 77 WJ ArikAirIntlLTD 4 0.00% 30.00% 30 1,564 00:52:0877 i (64) 22 881 VN Vietnam Airlines 4 0.00% 28.57% 28 1,012 00:36:0078 i (71) 11 80 PK PIA Pakistan International 3 4.55% 15.91% 44 2,861 01:06:0179 i (75) 66 80 AH Air Algeria 4 0.00% 5.88% 17 1,079 01:03:2880 i (72) 41 80 TS Turkmenistan Airlines 4 0.00% 0.00% 9 1,195 02:12:4781 i (49) 0 76 MH MalaysinaAirlines 4 0.00% 0.00% 62 9,304 02:30:34

NOTES

16 CurrentMonthRanking

h (46) i (6) CurrentMonthRankVsMovingAnnualAverage(MAA)oftheairline’sranksoverlast12months.Uparrowsignifiescurrentmonthrankisabovetheairline’sMAA.Downarrowsignifiescurrentmonthrankisbelowtheairline’sMAA.MAArankisshowninbrackets.

52-week High Highest airline rank over last 12 months

52-week Low Lowestairlinerankoverlast12months

EARLY ARR PUNCT. %ofarrivalswhichweregreaterthan15minutesearly(<-15minutes).

603 Arrival movements > 500 is highlighted in grey


Departures

Rank [v MAA (pos.)]

52-week High

52-week Low

Airline Code

Airline Name TERMDEP

PUNCT.ARR

PUNCT.DEP A/C MVMT

DEP DELAY (MINS)

AVG. DEP DELAY/MVMT

1 h (8) 1 25 JL JALJapanAirlines 3 96.8% 67.7% 31 303 00:09:462 h (12) 1 32 BI RoyalBrunei 4 96.8% 71.0% 31 444 00:14:193 h (10) 3 25 AM AeroviasDeMexico 4 95.5% 77.3% 22 203 00:09:144 h (7) 2 16 NH ANA All Nippon Airlines 2 93.5% 51.6% 31 186 00:06:005 h (6) 1 21 CZ China Southern 4 93.5% 54.8% 31 665 00:21:276 h (23) 6 35 KL KLM 4 92.1% 91.5% 342 3,856 00:11:167 h (30) 4 57 MU China Eastern 4 90.3% 100.0% 31 240 00:07:458 h (24) 2 61 SV Saudi Arabian Airlines 4 90.3% 61.3% 62 536 00:08:399 h (15) 4 27 KQ KenyaAirways 4 90.3% 87.1% 31 322 00:10:2310 h (14) 9 20 DL Delta Airlines 3,4 89.8% 83.8% 284 3,539 00:12:2811 h (14) 3 26 KE KoreanAir 4 89.7% 65.5% 29 187 00:06:2712 h (29) 12 53 9W JetAirways 4 89.2% 60.2% 93 1,840 00:19:4713 h (24) 11 40 SK SAS Scandinavian 2 89.2% 72.9% 455 7,275 00:15:5914 h (22) 10 36 AF Ar France 4 88.8% 82.8% 232 3,363 00:14:3015 h (28) 5 59 CA Air China 2 88.7% 72.6% 62 1,111 00:17:5516 i (11) 3 16 SA South African Airlines 2 88.5% 62.3% 61 588 00:09:3817 h (26) 17 44 UA UnitedAirlines 2 87.8% 81.4% 451 6,084 00:13:2918 h (21) 4 49 OZ Asiana Airlines 2 87.1% 38.7% 31 224 00:07:1419 h (20) 6 35 SQ Singapore Airlines 2 87.1% 56.5% 124 1,326 00:10:4220 h (24) 3 54 NZ Air New Zealand 2 87.1% 87.1% 31 345 00:11:0821 i (15) 1 31 PR Philippine Airlines 4 86.4% 50.0% 22 192 00:08:4422 h (41) 22 65 EK Emirates 3 85.7% 72.9% 154 2,000 00:12:5923 h (42) 23 50 BA BritishAirways 3,5 85.7% 81.5% 9318 134,149 00:14:2424 h (34) 10 54 TG Thai International 2 85.5% 50.0% 62 1,054 00:17:0025 h (59) 25 77 EY Etihad 4 84.9% 71.0% 93 1,266 00:13:3726 i (20) 3 34 QR Qatar 4 84.9% 90.3% 186 2,598 00:13:5827 h (34) 27 43 EI AerLingus 2 84.0% 82.8% 613 7,414 00:12:0628 i (7) 1 31 AV Avianca 2 83.9% 83.9% 31 317 00:10:1429 i (11) 2 29 JJ TAMBrazilian 2 83.9% 74.2% 31 557 00:17:5830 h (44) 30 61 AC Air Canada 2 82.5% 66.3% 268 4,949 00:18:2831 h (62) 31 78 TK Turkish Airlines 2 82.1% 85.1% 162 2,331 00:14:2332 h (43) 29 51 IB Iberia 5 81.9% 89.5% 232 4,152 00:17:5433 i (27) 16 33 I2 Iberia Express 5 81.7% #N/A 60 535 00:08:5534 h (40) 21 60 AA American Airlines 3 81.6% 73.5% 522 5,874 00:11:1535 i (32) 6 50 ME MEAMiddleEastAirlines 3 80.6% 67.7% 62 408 00:06:3536 i (33) 10 64 WY OmanAir 3 80.6% 64.5% 31 235 00:07:3537 i (33) 11 56 ET Ethiopian Airlines 2 80.6% 58.1% 31 402 00:12:5838 h (44) 27 66 CX Cathay Pacific 3 80.5% 64.4% 149 1,553 00:10:2539 h (57) 28 77 PK PIA Pakistan International 3 79.5% 15.9% 44 452 00:10:1640 i (25) 2 69 IR Iran Air 3 78.6% 57.1% 14 291 00:20:4741 i (37) 11 55 SU Aeroflot 4 77.9% 64.9% 77 878 00:11:2442 –(42) 20 69 JU Air Serbia 4 77.4% 87.1% 31 238 00:07:4143 h (57) 43 68 AZ Alitalia 4 76.9% 83.7% 147 1,413 00:09:3744 h (45) 24 69 KM AirMalta 4 76.7% 90.0% 60 1,380 00:23:0945 h (56) 33 72 A3 Aegean Air 2 76.2% 98.1% 105 1,268 00:12:0546 h (59) 19 77 LO LOTPolishAirlines 2 76.2% 83.1% 84 1,168 00:13:54


Rank [v MAA (pos.)]

52-week High

52-week Low

Airline Code

Airline Name TERMDEP

PUNCT.ARR

PUNCT.DEP A/C MVMT

DEP DELAY (MINS)

AVG. DEP DELAY/MVMT

47 i (32) 11 51 QF Qantas 3 75.8% 82.3% 62 889 00:14:2048 i (42) 12 67 AT RoyalAirMaroc 4 75.6% 75.6% 41 480 00:11:4249 h (65) 49 75 KU KuwaitAirways 4 75.6% 68.2% 45 559 00:12:2550 i (17) 1 54 GF Gulf Air 4 75.4% 79.0% 61 1,287 00:21:0651 i (30) 17 51 VS Virgin Atlantic 2,3 74.6% 80.8% 633 9,951 00:15:4352 h (61) 52 73 LY El Al 4 74.0% 78.0% 50 1,025 00:20:3053 i (50) 40 59 LH Lufthansa 2 73.9% 83.5% 540 8,341 00:15:2754 i (42) 25 54 TP TAP Air Portugal 2 72.8% 80.7% 162 2,828 00:17:2755 i (43) 7 72 J2 AzerbaijanAirways 4 71.4% 85.7% 21 229 00:10:5456 h (72) 56 79 FB BulgariaAirways 4 70.8% 83.3% 24 424 00:17:4057 i (54) 39 74 AI Air India 4 69.9% 50.0% 123 2,338 00:19:0058 h (60) 52 67 4U GermanwingsGMBH 2 69.2% 80.7% 237 3,418 00:14:2559 i (47) 13 62 OS Austrian Airlines 2 68.9% 88.8% 90 1,296 00:14:2460 h (61) 41 70 VN Vietnam Airlines 4 67.9% 28.6% 28 624 00:22:1761 i (29) 7 61 AY Finnair 3 66.9% 69.4% 145 1,936 00:13:2162 i (59) 11 76 VY Vueling Airlines 3 65.2% 80.4% 46 779 00:16:5663 i (61) 30 74 SN BrusselsAirlines 2 65.2% 77.5% 89 1,195 00:13:2664 i (60) 54 69 LX Swiss International 2 64.5% 77.8% 352 4,380 00:12:2765 i (50) 10 68 UL SriLankanAirlines 3 64.1% 79.5% 39 417 00:10:4266 i (62) 39 79 FI Iceland air 2 63.8% 65.5% 58 677 00:11:4067 i (55) 19 81 RR EVA Air 2 61.3% 35.5% 31 439 00:14:1068 i (63) 45 75 MS Egypt Air 2 60.6% 78.8% 66 709 00:10:4569 i (51) 11 75 MK AirMauritius 4 56.3% 75.0% 16 153 01:09:3470 h (73) 70 77 EW Eurowings 2 54.8% 67.8% 199 2,067 00:10:2371 h (73) 65 81 CU Croatia Airlines 2 48.7% 74.4% 39 478 00:12:1572 i (40) 4 75 W3 ArikAirIntlLTD 4 48.3% 30.0% 29 629 00:21:4173 h (79) 73 82 TU Tunisair 4 47.1% 64.7% 17 141 00:08:1874 i (39) 14 74 MI MalaysianAirlines 4 45.2% 0.0% 62 717 00:11:3475 i (69) 40 76 RJ RoyalJordanian 3 38.7% 58.1% 31 409 00:13:1276 i (60) 31 78 WY UzbekistanAirways 4 33.3% 44.4% 9 54 00:06:0077 i (72) 60 81 RO Tarom 4 27.6% 55.2% 29 296 00:10:1278 i (69) 33 80 RC BimanBangladesh 4 11.8% 52.9% 17 211 00:12:2579 i (76) 67 80 AR Air Algerie 4 11.8% 5.9% 17 229 00:13:2880 i (64) 51 80 KC CJSCAirAstana 4 77% 38.2% 13 285 00:21:5581 i (74) 51 81 TS Turkmenistan Airlines 4 0.0% 0.0% 9 71 00:07:53

NOTES

16 CurrentMonthRanking

h (46) i (6) CurrentMonthRankVsMovingAnnualAverage(MAA)oftheairline’sranksoverlast12months.Uparrowsignifiescurrentmonthrankisabovetheairline’sMAA.Downarrowsignifiescurrentmonthrankisbelowtheairline’sMAA.MAArankisshowninbrackets

52-week High Highest airline rank over last 12 months

52-week Low Lowestairlinerankoverlast12months

603 Departure movements > 500 is highlighted in grey


BackgroundThe Heathrow Air Quality Action Plan supports our Air Quality Strategy and was published in December 2011. FP is the action owner for just over 10% of the actions. Details of some work undertaken in 2015 are given below. The FP team continues to provide operational and technical support for the wider air quality debate and initiatives.

Air Quality MonitoringFP continues to manage four permanent air quality monitoring sites, and ensures that the data is published on our website www.heathrowairwatch.org.uk. This website provides an excellent source of information together with updates from monitors every hour. In2014weupgradedfourNOxanalysers,oneO3analyserandfourparticleanalysers(seethepicturebelow).Thishasimproveddatarecordingandwillfacilitateapportionmentknowledge.In2015weupdatedtwoofourmonitors(LHR2andOaksRoad)toallowforBlackCarbonmonitoringandthisisnowincludedonourHeathrowAirWatchwebsite.ThismonitoringwasthefirstofitskindoutsideoftheUKGovernmentblackcarbonmonitoringnetwork.Theairqualitymonitorswillremaininplaceandthedataderivedfrom them continues to inform new air quality initiatives.

Air Quality Action Plan

Emissions BlueprintIn 2015 a blueprint was published which aims to reduce the amount of emissions produced by Heathrow Airport. At the airport, we andourpartnersareworkingtoimproveairqualitybyreducingemissionsfromaircraft,vehiclesandbuildings.Ourgoalistocutground-basedemissionsofNOxby5%by2020(from2009levels).TheBlueprintformsaten-pointactionforreducingemissions,ofwhichFlightPerformancearedirectlyresponsibleforthree.Theplanincludes:

•Reduceemissionsfromaircraftatthegate. •Phaseouttheoldestanddirtiestaircraft. •Improvetaxiingefficiency. •Providemoreandbetterelectricvehiclechargingpoints. •Incentiviselowemissionsvehicles. •Workwithpartnerstosetupemissionzonesandstandards. •Reduceemissionsfromourownfleet. •Poolvehiclestoreducenumbersandemissions. •Leadthemovetoelectricvehiclesairside. •Moderniseourheatingsupply.


TheUKGovernment,insupportoftheSingleEuropeanSkyproject,aimstoachievethemodernisationofUKairspacethroughtheFutureAirspaceStrategy(FAS).ImplementationoftheFASisbeingledbytheCAA.Itwillseethewidespreaduseofmodernnavigationstandards–commonlyknownasPerformanceBasedNavigation(PBN).Existingground-basednavigationinfrastructurewillberemoved.Forthefirsttimeindecades,theredesignofairspacepresentsrealopportunities.PBNhasallowedHeathrowtoexplore ways to provide respite from aircraft noise for people who live and work under departure routes. This work will be taken forwardin2016withtheRespiteWorkingGroupincollaborationwiththeHeathrowCommunityNoiseForum(HCNF).

However, to enable improvements to the operation it is often necessary to conduct airborne trials. To facilitate this FP engaged with the DfT, CAA, NATS, airlines and local stakeholders. During 2014 FP contributed operational design parameters for four trials, produced trial documentation for three and monitored and report on a daily basis for four trials. Data analysis was also conducted attheendofthetrials,andduring2015FPcontributedtothetrialreportfortheMIDEasterlytrialsthatceasedinJune2014andmanagedthecompilationoftheDOKENtrialreporttogetherwithprovisionofasubstantialdataset.Trialreportsfortheseairspaceprojects were published in 2015 with the work being used to form the discussion in the Respite Working Group and the HCNF.

Aside from the mentioned arrival trials, no further Heathrow Airport departure airspace trials were carried out in 2015 with the trials that took place in 2014 being used to form our future engagement and policies. This involved the creation of HCNF to discuss these matters in more detail with the local community, airlines, DfT and the CAA.

TimeBasedSeparations(TBS)InMarch2015HeathrowAirportintroducedaworldfirstbydevelopinganewwayofseparatingarrivingaircraftatHeathrowAirportbytimeinsteadofdistanceinordertocutdelayscausedbystrongwinds,incollaborationwithNATSandLockheedMartin.Traditionally,airtrafficcontrollersseparateflightsbysetdistancesdependentontheaircrafttypeandthesizeofthespirallingairturbulence – or wake vortex – they create as they fly.

However, during strong headwinds aircraft fly more slowly over the ground, resulting in extra time between each arrival. Having to maintain a set distance in those conditions reduces the landing rate and can cause delays and cancellations.

Onanormaldayaround40aircraftanhourlandatHeathrow,butthatcandroptojust32onwindydays,whichiscapacitythatcannot be reclaimed because the airport is so busy, having been essentially full for the past decade.

TimeBasedSeparation(TBS)takeslivewinddatafromtheaircrafttodynamicallycalculatetheoptimalsafespacingbetweeneach aircraft in order to maintain the landing rate. Its introduction is expected to halve current headwind delays at the airport and significantly reduce the need for airlines to cancel flights.

EnhancedInstrumentLandingSystem(eILS)In2015Heathrowinstalledtwonewinstrumentlandingsystemson27RandLrunways.09RandLwillbeinstalledin2016.ThenewILSisbasedonnewnavigationtechnologyandknownasan‘enhancedILS’oreILSforshort.TheeILSprovidesHeathrowthecapability to increase the number of aircraft that can land in low visibility, giving improved resilience and punctuality.

ThenewsystemsaretheonlyonesoftheirkindintheUKandonlyoneotherEuropeanairport,Zurich,hasthesysteminstalled.Thiswill allow Heathrow Airport to increase resilience when operating in low visibility conditions by allowing a greater number of aircraft to land.

Resilience


AsaninterestedandresponsiblememberoftheaviationindustryFPhasbeeninvolvedinthefollowingduring2015:

LondonAirspaceManagementProgramme(LAMP)LAMPaimstomoderniseairspacearoundLondonwheretrafficlevelsarehighestandrouteinteractionsarethemostcomplexintheUK.FPhasbeenengagedthroughouttheyearwithNATStoinfluencethedesignworkandtounderstandtheimpactthisvastprogrammewillhaveonouroperation,andconsequentlywhatchangeswewillhavetomaketoaccommodateit.Underthisumbrellathefollowingconsultationtookplacein2015:LondonAirspaceConsultation–NATSDepartureRouteProposalatLondonStansted Airport. This consultation concerned a change to the use of existing departure routes from Stansted that take traffic to the southeastandeastoftheairport.FPprovidedtheresponseonbehalfofHALwhichsupportedthisinitiativeasnoadverseimpactonthe Heathrow operation was identified.

Steeper Approach TrialInsupportoftheNoiseActionPlan,theNoiseBlueprintandpreparationforLAMP,FPbeganaSteeperApproachTrialin2015.A3.2degreeRNAVapproachwasmadeavailablefrom17September2015andwillrununtil16March2016.Asoftheendof2015thetrial is running with no major issues or concerns and a full report will be published in summer 2016 with a full assessment of the impact the trial had on the Heathrow operation, if any, and the potential noise benefits from operating a 3.2 degree approach. This reportwillthenbeusedtoformfutureHeathrowAirportdecision-makinginrelationtosteeperapproaches.

Quieter Procedures – Proving FlightsWorkundertakenwithBritishAirways,AirbusandNATScontinuedin2015withfurtherflightsflownbyBA.IntotaltenseparateflightswereflownonB777andA380aircraft.Theflightsoperatedtwo-segmentedapproaches,4.5degreesinto3.0degreesat5NM,whichwerethefirstoftheirkindflownintoHeathrowandfurther3.2degreeapproaches.Theyprovidedanopportunityforall parties to better understand these events and their potential impact on the operation.

Airspace


The FP team continued throughout 2015 to support the following regular stakeholder meetings.

FlightOperationsPerformanceandSafetyCommittee(FLOPSC)The committee meets to discuss Heathrow Airside operational and safety performance. In 2015 FP had a significant input providing regular updates on airport operational performance, updates on runway occupancy engagement, briefings on the SID improvement programme and discussion around improving the airport’s operational performance.

Frequency: QuarterlyStakeholders:Internal,external;airlinepilotreps,NATS,CAA,BALPA

HAL/NATSMeetingsOperationalmeetingsrunbyFPatbothweeklyandmonthlylevels,inordertodisseminateandgarnerpertinentshorttermoperational information regarding Heathrow’s air traffic performance.

Frequency: Weekly, monthlyStakeholders: NATS

HeathrowAirportConsultativeCommittee(HACC)The HACC is an independent committee, set up in 1948, which includes representatives of airport users, local authorities and otherbodiesconcernedwithinthelocalityofHeathrow.HALmeetsastatutoryobligationbyconsultingwiththecommitteeonthe airport’s development and operational plans. In 2014 the HACC met six times a year and was a public forum. In 2015 the HACC plans to meet four times. FP provides reports directly to the HACC on matters including the management of the night flight restrictionsandcompliancewithrunwayalternation.InadditionwesupportHeathrow’sChiefOperatingOfficerandtheDirectorofPolicy and Political Relations with respect to operational questions.

Frequency: QuarterlyStakeholders: External, public forum

Heathrow Community Noise Forum TheHeathrowCommunityNoiseForumwassetupinresponsetotheAirspaceTrialscarriedoutin2014.Ithasbeensetupto:

•Keepcommunityrepresentativesandlocalauthoritystakeholdersinformedandseektheirinputinpreparingforandconsultingon future airspace modernisation as part of the Government’s Future Airspace Strategy.

•ImproveindustryandGovernmentrepresentatives’understandingofthekeyconcernsofcommunitieslivingaroundHeathrowand use these to influence Government aviation policy and guidance to the CAA.

•KeepmembersabreastofallairspacetrialsandproceduralchangesthatarebeingplannedbyNATSandHeathrowwheretheyare expected to have a discernible impact on the ground.

•BeakeychannelthroughwhichHeathrowandNATSwillcommunicatewithcommunitiesandstakeholdersonactionsbeingtaken to address community concerns about aircraft noise.

•BeameansbywhichHeathrowcommunitiesaffectedbynoisefromtheairport’soperationsprovidefeedbacktotheairport’smanagement, the DfT, CAA, NATS and the airlines on problems they are experiencing.

•Beafocalpointforstakeholderinvolvementintheplanning,consultationandcommunicationofthemodernisationofHeathrow’s airspace.

Frequency: Six times a yearStakeholders: External; NATS, airlines, local community

Flight Performance Engagement


Heathrow Air Quality Working GroupThis working group is run by Heathrow Sustainability and Environment which allows us to better understand the position of the local councilsandworkwiththemtoaddressairqualityissues.FPattendstoensureanAirsideOperationsview.

Frequency: QuarterlyStakeholders: Internal

SustainableAviationOperationalImprovementsWorkingGroupFPrepresentsHeathrowwithinthiscrossindustryworkinggroup.UndertheSustainableAviationumbrellathegroupinvestigatesandstudies initiatives that may have environmental gains in terms of noise and air quality.

Frequency:Bi-monthlyStakeholders: External; airports, airlines, environmental bodies

Noise Steering GroupTheNoiseSteeringGroupisaninternalHALmeetingtodiscussandworkonaircraftnoise.FPrepresentsHeathrowAirsideOperations.

Frequency: Eight times a yearStakeholders: Internal

Arrivals and Departures Working GroupThisworkinggroupprovidesgovernanceandsupporttoanumberofworkstreamswhichfallunderHeathrow’sAirportOperationalEfficiency(AOE)Programme.Thegroup’sresponsibilitiesincludeairspacechange,groundimprovementandperformancemonitoring.

Frequency:MonthlyStakeholders:External;NATS,BA

Airspace Governance GroupThe Airspace Governance Group is responsible for driving the strategic debate on airspace, facilitating decision making to enable delivery. The group will consider business and strategic priorities and decide how airspace should be best managed for today and intothefuture.Memberswilluseevidencetobalancetheprioritiesofoperationalefficiency,noiseimpactmitigationandcommunityrelations.

Frequency:MonthlyStakeholders:Internalmeeting.Externalbyinvitation:CAA,AOC,NATS,IATA

Sustainable Aviation Noise Working GroupSustainableAviationisacoalitionoftheUK’sairports,airlines,aircraftandenginemanufacturers,andairtrafficmanagementproviders. It was launched in 2005 to allow the industry to come together to tackle the challenges of delivering a sustainable future foraviation:forexample,dealingwithcarbonemissions,noiseandlocalimpactsaroundairports.Thisworkinggroupspecificallylooks at noise impacts.

Frequency: Every other monthStakeholders:External:HAL,UKairports,airlines,AOA


HeathrowNoisePerformanceMeeting •Toimprovethegeneralunderstandingofnoiseandtrackkeepingissuesbetweenthelocalauthoritiesandtheairport. •ToreviewthenoiseandtrackkeepingoutputoftheHALFlightPerformanceTeamsoastoensurethatchangesinperformance

and trends are shared with the local authorities. •Toidentifyspecificareasofconcern,improvementsorsignificantchangesinperformanceinordertoinformnoiseaction

planning and strategy development. •Toensurethatthevariouselementsofthesystemareusedinaco-ordinatedwaytoachievethebestoverallbenefitforthe

community. •ToensuretheGroup’sactivitiesremainwithintheoverallframeworkofnoisemanagementasdeterminedbytheDfT. •Toensurethatwheretheconfidentialnatureofdiscussionsanddocumentationisclearlyexpressedorindicated,thatthiswillbe

respected by all the group members. •ToprovidethecommitteeofHACCwithanoverviewoftheactivitiesofthemeetingtogetherwithastatisticalanalysisof

aircraft noise and track keeping as and when required.

Frequency: QuarterlyStakeholders:External;EnvironmentalHealthOfficers


ADDICT Airfield Disruption and Delay Impact Calculation Tool

AIP Aeronautical Information Publication

amsl Above mean sea level

AM Aircraft movements

ANMAC AircraftNoiseMonitoringAdvisoryCommittee

ANOMS AirportNoiseandOperationsManagementSystem

ATC Air Traffic Control

ATM AirTransportMovement

ATFM AirTrafficFlowManagement

BA BritishAirways

CAA Civil Aviation Authority

CDA Continuous Descent Approach

CDM CollaborativeDecisionMaking

CPT Compton

D1 The day prior to the affected day

dBA A-weighteddecibel

DfT Department for Transport

EPNdB Effective Perceived Noise decibels

ERCD Environmental Research Consultancy Division

FP Flight Performance

FLOPC FlightOperationsPerformanceCommittee

HACAN Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise

HACC Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee

HAL HeathrowAirportLtd

HCNF Heathrow Community Noise Forum

ICAO InternationalCivilAviationOrganization

ILS InstrumentLandingSystem

KPI KeyPerformanceIndicators

LAMP LondonAirspaceManagementProgramme

Leq Continuous equivalent noise level

LMax MaximumSoundLevel

LUT Line-UpTime

NAP Noise Action Plan

NATS Air Navigation Services Provider

NOx NitrogenOxide

NQP Night Quota Period

NPR Noise Preferential Routes

NTK NoiseandTrackKeepingSystem

QC Quota Count

RNAV Area Navigation

SID Standard Instrument Departure

Glossary


DfT Flight Dispensation Reasons

Emergencies •Medical •Diversion •Lowvisibility •Risktolife

Serious Airfield and Terminal Congestion •Hardshiptopassengers •Longdelays •Terminalovercrowdedandfacilitiesstrained •Insufficienthotelaccommodation •Hardshiptoanimals •Singlerunwayoperations

Widespread and Prolonged ATC Delays •ATCflowrestrictions •Thunderstorms/strongwinds •Snowandice •ATCstrikeorcomputerproblems

DfT Dispensation •Headsofstate •Royalfamilies(incForeign) •Seniorministersonofficialbusiness •Reliefflights •Civilaircraftaffectedbyhostilities •Militaryflightsoncompassionategrounds


Notes

heathrow.com/noise

ProducedbyFlightPerformance,AirfieldOperations,HeathrowAirportLimited

Flight Performance - Heathrow Airport · Page 4 Flight Performance – Annual Report 2015 IT...

Documents

Transcript of Flight Performance - Heathrow Airport · Page 4 Flight Performance – Annual Report 2015 IT...