Since last October Frankfurt airport has enjoyed the luxury of four runways versus Heathrow's two..... However before the fourth runway was due to open, local opposition culminated in a ruling by a lower regional court in Kassel to ban take-offs and landings at the airport between 23:00 and 05:00. This has just been upheld by Germany's federal administrative court in Leipzig. Lufthansa reckons that the night flight ban will reduce Lufthansa’s annual earnings by €40m (The last year net loss was €13m). The average number of aircraft movements during the "whole night", from 22:00 until 06:00, will also need to be reduced from 150 planned flights to 133.
Heathrow by comparison has always been a 24 hour airport without a court imposed night ban. However in the interests of the airport's users and local communities it operates certain restrictions and rules regarding night flights on a voluntary basis. These are complicated and the aircraft type and its official noise footprint dictate the types of aircraft that operators are allowed to fly at night and when. The rules are complicated and can be found at: http://www.heathrowairport.com/static/Heathrow_Noise/Downloads/PDF/Nightflights11.pdf
Essentially the 'Night period' is 2300 to 0700 during which period the noisiest types of aircraft may not be operated. This means aircaft that have been certified as having an EPNdB of more than 86 may not be operated, whilst planes certified as having less than 86 EPNdB may be operated all night. Because there is no court imposed ban, when unusual circumstances, such as the Icelandic volcano ash-cloud disruption, occur it is possible for the voluntary restictions to be easily lifted to enable any backlog of flights to be cleared.
Reportedly Lufthansa's CEO Christopher Franz joked, in an apparent dig at Government interference as to how airlines are allowed to operate, “The (Frankfurt) night flight ban – that is the German equivalent of not creating a third runway in Heathrow.” The German court ruling has clearly had a significant negative effect on Lufthansa. It would appear that without the losses that Mr Franz attributes to the night flight ban, together with his other cost savings achieved in his first year as CEO, Lufthansa might well have expected to scrape into the black.
Essentially the 'Night period' is 2300 to 0700 during which period the noisiest types of aircraft may not be operated. This means aircaft that have been certified as having an EPNdB of more than 86 may not be operated, whilst planes certified as having less than 86 EPNdB may be operated all night. Because there is no court imposed ban, when unusual circumstances, such as the Icelandic volcano ash-cloud disruption, occur it is possible for the voluntary restictions to be easily lifted to enable any backlog of flights to be cleared.
Reportedly Lufthansa's CEO Christopher Franz joked, in an apparent dig at Government interference as to how airlines are allowed to operate, “The (Frankfurt) night flight ban – that is the German equivalent of not creating a third runway in Heathrow.” The German court ruling has clearly had a significant negative effect on Lufthansa. It would appear that without the losses that Mr Franz attributes to the night flight ban, together with his other cost savings achieved in his first year as CEO, Lufthansa might well have expected to scrape into the black.
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