Mary Macleod, Member of Parliament for Brentford & Isleworth, today welcomed a new report commissioned by HACAN into the potential impact of a ban on night flights at Heathrow airport.
The report by the respected Dutch economists, CE Delft, has found that a night flight ban before 6am could benefit the national economy by as much as £860 million a year. The big savings would be in the monetary costs associated with sleep deprivation. Because of the huge number of people living under the Heathrow night flight path, these savings could be expected to outweigh any loss of income to the aviation industry.
John Stewart, Chair of HACAN said: “We commissioned this report to test out the claims that a night flight ban would damage the economy. Its dramatic finding destroy the last remaining argument for night flights.”
Mary Macleod MP said: “I welcome the publication of this report which has taken a scientific approach to defining and analysing the full impact of a ban on night flights. It has shown that a night flight ban could actually benefit the wider economy.
“This report is timely as later this year the Government will embark on a consultation on night flying at Heathrow airport for the period from 2012-2017 and I look forward to discussing these findings with the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, the Minister for Aviation at the Department of Transport.”