AIRPORT campaigners have made a formal complaint to Leeds City Council about the number of night flights from Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) during this year’s summer season, which ended yesterday.

Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA), say that LBA has exceeded the number of night flights it is allowed to operate by over 600 flights. GALBA has asked Council enforcement officers to investigate the airport’s rule breaking as quickly as possible and take action to stop LBA flouting the rules.

Ian Coatman is a GALBA member who lives in Horsforth, near the airport. He said: “LBA’s recent controversial planning application - which they abandoned in March this year - would have allowed the airport to almost double its passenger numbers. Although LBA tried to hide it, the most important part of that application was for a big increase in the number of night flights.”

“Even though they dropped their planning application, LBA’s bosses have repeatedly claimed this year that the airport would double in size anyway. That raised a lot of eyebrows because LBA is limited by strict rules on the number of passengers and, crucially, the number of night flights they can operate. Now we see what they meant - LBA appears to be simply ignoring the rules!”

To protect the health of those living under the flight path, the rules place strict limits to the number of take-offs and landings between 11pm and 7am. LBA’s ‘quota’ for the 2022 summer season (corresponding to British Summer Time) was 2,920. After taking into account permitted exceptions - such as emergencies or late arrivals of aircraft that cannot normally fly at night - GALBA’s monitoring reveals that LBA has significantly exceeded the night time limit.

Andy Tate, a GALBA member who lives under the flight path in north west Leeds, said: “We’ve monitored the number of night flights over the summer season using real time flight data information available online. LBA was allowed 2,920 night flights but we have found that LBA actually operated an incredible 600 more flights than allowed. Night time flying is bad news for anyone living under the flight path. The disturbance from these flights is a major cause of all kinds of serious health issues.

A spokesperson for LBA told the Telegraph & Argus “We work closely with Leeds City Council on all matters relating to the airport’s planning consent, and will liaise with them on any issues raised in respect of how that consent is implemented.

“We take our responsibilities on operating flights seriously and will continue to report on them in an open and transparent way.”

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We are currently investigating a complaint made against Leeds Bradford Airport in relation to nighttime flights.”