[canucklad]

And Frau Merkel probably insisted he use a Mercedes…!!

[Inquisitive]

Above Maidenhead, sometimes I heard jet noise after midnight (not very often). Surely some flights takes off from LHR after midnight. That noise does not bother me much. However, I get awakened quite frequently from the noise of a car or motorcycle – whose driver/rider accelerate suddenly. Another noise generator is the trains that passes regularly through nearby track. No one really complains about those – I believe infrequent jet noise after midnight will be tolerable after people get accostomed.

[LeTigre]

I have a bunch of guys who love riding motorbikes down my street around midnight, which makes me furious as they make no attempt to reduce noise but I think they were soon stopped by the Real IRA (Ickenham Residents Association).

Even Hercules Aircraft taking off from Northolt don’t wake me up.

[LuganoPirate]

I go back to one of my earlier proposals.

Build an airport in the N. Sea, 16 runways in different directions and link it with Hi speed rail and road tunnels /bridges linking London, Amsterdam and Brussels.

Airport could operate 24 hours a day disturbing no-one apart from the fishermen, but there’s no fish left in the N. Sea anyway!

LHR, AMS and BRU could then be closed down and developed for housing with the proceeds being used to pay off the construction. Such a massive infrastructure project would create tens of thousands of jobs and solve many of the problems we have today.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Living in Kingston upon Thames I can think of lots of reasons why this initiative on the part of EK should go no further and only one of them is night time disruption. LHR cannot operate 24/7, they resurface things like the runways at night. There would be no oppportunity for maintenance.

If EK want to increase their offering to DXB they need to bid for more slots and I’m sure they can afford them.

It’s time to get building in the Thames Estuary or valley. I don’t care which but we need a new airport.

[canucklad]

Maintenance can be scheduled on a rotation basis. YVR has a CX flight to JFK at 2am and it like Heatrow is surrounded by residential areas. EDI manages with a 24 hour operation and 1 runway. As far as keeping LHR open to cope with the flights remember that it is open 24/7 to cope with missed connections, passengers and relatives and staff arriving well before or milling about after the scheduled flight times. And it would be political suicide for a government of any persuassion ! LHR employs and maintains pretty the much the wealth of West London and its surrounding boroughs including Kingston. In fact Kingston is as reliant onthe airport as Hounslow is!

[RogerVictor]

There is always one runway open at night. They rotate the closing of the runway on a weekly basis. If they had to shut both runways the airport would have to send out a special message saying that it is shut. It is notified in all literature as an H24 airport. The night time ban is a ‘jet ban’. 5.5 degree glide path on the ILS is possible and would reduce noise. The aircraft would glide down but then have to apply pretty much full power just before touchdown to bring the nose of the plane up to land it (so i have been told). Less noise further out but quite a lot of noise very close. They do a 6 degree approach into London City

[RichHI1]

So could LHR act as an emergency alternate for LGW on early morning heavy emergency declaration? What is the normal alternate for Heavies to LGW during the LHR jetban hours?

[MartynSinclair]

What would be deemed as an acceptable noise reduction to enable an increase in night ops at Heathrow.

If its achievable, whats the problem??

[FormerlyDoS]

“They do a 6 degree approach into London City”

Not with A380 equipment, though.

I wonder if Airbus would certify their jumbo for a 5.5 degree approach?
.

[IanFromHKG]

Coming late to the thread and saw LuganoPirate’s assertion that services at LHR start around 4:45am – not in my experience. HKG flights mostly arrive between 5 and 6:30 am and I have on several occasions had to wait for Customs and Immigration to open in order to get out of the airport!

[canucklad]

Putting a bit more thought to this thread……..EK should actually be encouraged to pursue this iniative…..I love London and rate it as one of my favourite cities.. It does however have that quirky British feel to it as most other “world Cities” can describe themselves as 24 hour.. London is definately a city ” that does sleep”…unless youve got wads of cash and have access to a private club etc! Cinderalla carriage definately turns into apumpkin when its in Westminster!!

[LeTigre]

That’s so true, Canucklad, if you are out till late in London, there is an atmosphere and the way people scurry around that’s like: “why aren’t you in bed now?”

On the other hand, when I was last in Singapore, I was out until 2 or 3 in the morning with friends and even when I got the bus back to the hotel and walked some distance (I was not drunk), I felt the atmosphere was quite welcoming. Perhaps it’s just the climate but I feel that the people like staying up late anyway…

[RichHI1]

If LHR and the Underground / HEX open 24 hours they will have to give foreign visitors hoodies to wear and boxes with flat screen tv to carry, so they blend in in Central London at 3.00 am. Maybe Emirates can include an eau de toilette smeeling of stale High Alcohol Cider and Cheap Vodka to further enhance the experience.

[canucklad]

Well they say that when you travel the best way to travel is….”when in Rome……………………….”

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