Edinburgh Airport re-submits plans to change flight paths

A proposal to change Edinburgh Airport's flight paths has been resubmitted to the industry regulator.

The Civil Aviation Authority put the airport's initial submission on pause last September and asked bosses to review part of the design.

A fresh proposal has now been put forward, which will see aircraft fly towards the west of Cramond and along the Firth of Forth.

The airport undertook a supplementary consultation on the changes to its initial proposal between May and June.

It included two public sessions, a Facebook Q&A session, a social media campaign and information being sent to more than 12,000 homes, elected members and groups.

From the 1,167 responses from residents, 1,035 or 87% were broadly opposed to the proposals.

Those living in Dalgety Bay in Fife were most vocal in their response, with 729 respondents of which 688 were opposed.

Previous consultations on changes to flight paths have seen residents raise concerns over issues such as noise and the environmental impact.

However the airport, the busiest in Scotland, says modernising its airspace, designed in the 1970s, is necessary in order to handle "strong levels of growth'' in operations since 2013.

It says a change in flight paths will allow more flexibility with flights and maintain service levels, while building increased capacity for future growth.

Chief executive Gordon Dewar said: "Vast growth at the airport as well as the change in technology means we need to modernise our airspace to meet current and future demand, and it is a process many airports are looking at.

"Our approach at Edinburgh Airport must be one that is balanced between the needs of the airport and the economy and customers we serve as well as those of our neighbouring communities - we believe our proposals do that.

"Although there was no requirement to consult, we wanted to go back to our communities to listen to their valued feedback and understand their concerns.

"They were part of a wider conversation with our airlines and other partners who all have an interest in this process and our proposals take into account all of that dialogue.

"The process has always been about participatory democracy rather than electoral and we have gained a greater insight into our approach due to this.

"As with previous consultations, we have published a report detailing what we've heard and that will be followed by a rationale document later this month which will explain the thinking behind our resubmitted proposal."