GLASGOW Airport is set to restructure its arrival and departure flight corridors, with several nearby towns facing a significant increase in overhead flights as a result.
The plans will see up to 200 flights a day directed into narrower route centrelines, with the changes designed to streamline operations and reduce delays and cancellations.
Under the new proposals, the busiest departure path to the south-west — currently a broad corridor above the A737 known as NORBO/TRN — will be split into a narrower route called GREAN, with two brand new routes, BEEFY and MOODI, also introduced.
For arrivals, 58 per cent will continue to use the LESMA route from the Lesmahagow holding stack but will be strictly concentrated along a single optimised centreline.
That concentrated path will directly overfly the western side of Whifflet and Coatbridge, Gartcosh, Moodiesburn and the eastern edge of Kirkintilloch, with those areas set to experience around 50 daytime and five night overflights every day during summer — a sharp increase from the 20 daytime flights currently scattered across the broader area.
Final approach paths over Milngavie and Drumchapel will remain largely unchanged, with up to 100 flights a day continuing to use those routes.
A public consultation on the changes has now closed, having received over 702 responses alongside several community drop-in events.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Airport previously said: "The proposals are required to meet the UK Government's Airspace Modernisation Strategy, which aims to modernise an outdated airspace system so that existing flights can operate more efficiently, safely and predictably, delivering quicker, quieter and cleaner journeys.
"Whilst Glasgow Airport has ambitions to grow, neither this process nor this proposal in its own right is necessary to enable additional capacity or drive growth.
"A modernised airspace network for Scotland — delivered collectively through proposals from Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport and NATS known as Scottish Airspace Modernisation — is estimated to save 18,000 tonnes of CO2e every year through more direct routing and improved climb and descent profiles."
