Airspace Change Masterplan (Iteration 3) London Airspace South: Public Engagement Exercise

Overview

This public engagement exercise concentrates on the proposal to modernise a region of the UK’s airspace in the South East of England that extends south from Gatwick Airport, beyond the South coast to the boundary with French airspace.

This portion of airspace is titled London Airspace South (or LAS). The geographical region covered by LAS is described in more detail and pictured within Part 1 of this activity.

This engagement exercise is led by the Airspace Change Organising Group (ACOG), an independent team of specialists tasked with coordinating large scale, strategic airspace changes in the UK. The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) co-sponsor airspace modernisation and directed the creation of ACOG to coordinate the airspace changes. The national 2040 vision for airspace modernisation is to:

“Deliver quicker, quieter and cleaner journeys and more capacity for the benefit of those who use and are affected by UK airspace” Gatwick Airport and NATS (en route) plc."

(NERL) are responsible for developing detailed Airspace Change Proposals (ACPs) to modernise the airspace in the LAS region, working closely with ACOG and the other South East airports. LAS is the first phase of airspace modernisation proposed for deployment in the Southeast of England. Future phases of deployment, which include ACPs to modernise the airspace serving the other South East airports, are under development. More information is available on ACOG’s website: www.ACOG.aero.

What is ACOG engaging on?

The goal of this engagement exercise is to explain the overall strategic plan (or Masterplan) for the proposed LAS deployment before stakeholders are invited to participate in formal consultations on the detailed changes, which will be led by Gatwick and NERL in Spring 2025. This engagement document explains the drivers for airspace modernisation in the LAS region and the general scope and objectives of the proposed changes. It also describes ACOG’s approach to aligning the proposed LAS deployment with future plans for strategic airspace changes elsewhere in the South East of England.

In this engagement ACOG is seeking stakeholders’ views on the approach to grouping the LAS ACPs into the first phase of deployment in the South East and on the principles that will guide how Gatwick and NERL consult on the proposed changes in a coordinated way. ACOG would also like to gather feedback on any possible gaps in, or improvement to, the strategic plan for airspace modernisation in the LAS region.

Table 1 sets out specifically what ACOG is seeking feedback on during this engagement, linked to the information in the relevant parts of the exercise.

Table 1: LAS deployment public engagement exercise feedback questions

What is ACOG not engaging on?

ACOG is not engaging on the details of the proposed route design options and airspace structures that are being developed by the LAS ACPs. Gatwick and NERL are still working on design options and appraising their potential impacts. The formal consultations in Spring 2025 will set out the detailed design of all the routes and airspace structures included in the proposed LAS deployment, supported by a rigorous quantitative appraisal of the expected impacts (both positive and negative).