We recognise that operating a major international airport can affect the lives of people who live nearby. Its effects include noise, congestion from road traffic, air pollution and loss of open land as well an impact on the local countryside.

There are a number of difficult issues to manage, especially on environmental impact and surface access. Over 15,000 people live within the airport’s 60 db LAeq noise contour and over 80,000 vehicles come to the airport site on a busy day.

To tackle these issues, we are implementing detailed action plans on Environment, Ground Transport and Land Use. These are available to download for free from our archive
We try very hard to be a good neighbour and aim to give something back to the most affected communities, providing mitigation and compensation or through financial and practical support.

How do I record disturbance?
The measures outlined should reduce the disturbance local residents experience. If you are particularly disturbed by Airport operations we can investigate your concern; we have produced a short video clip that outlines the care we take to investigate and reply to complaints made. If you would like us to investigate please register your complaint.

Calibration and testing of navigational equipment
In order to maintain our operations in a safe manner, regular testing and calibration of our navigational aids is required. Where maintenance is planned we will keep these pages updates

• The Instrument Landing System & changes that affect arriving aircraft
  Calibration checks can require a number of approaches to Runway 23R by a small propeller aircraft. The aircraft will then break away to the south or north after each approach and orbit around for the next approach. The approaches are planned for a window when the aircraft can make multiple approaches without having to wait for other arriving or departing traffic to clear the runway. This procedure has been formulated to reduce the need to circle at low level whilst waiting to make another approach, which could otherwise result in increase community disturbance. We do regret any disturbance caused and can assure you that our engineers will complete these checks and we will revert to our normal operations as soon as it is safe to do so. 
  If the Instrument Landing System is not available then aircraft use navigational guidance provided by alternative equipment, known as the VOR and DME. Approach and landings using the VOR and DME navigational equipment will mean that aircraft approaching to land on our runways will be displaced from their usual precise centre line. Aircraft landing using these different navigational aids must be configured to land earlier in their approach. This means that with the flaps extended and under carriage deployed earlier, aircraft may also be noisier than usual.
  Works are planned on the Instrument Landing System on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th May 2013. Works have been planned to take place outside of our peak demand and so cause the least disruption to our neighbouring communities; the Instrument Landing System will unavailable from 16:30 hrs with a return to service anticipated before 16:00 hrs. These outages are required in order to complete remote control testing of the ILS control systems from the new Control Tower building and will only be able to take place if there are favourable weather conditions (in the event of poor weather the outages will be postponed to a future date).
  
• Maintenance works that may affect departing aircraft
  In order to fly within the standard Preferred Noise Routes (PNRs) used by departures from Manchester Airport aircraft fly Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs). These SIDs  consist of a series of navigational instructions. If the any or all navigational aids required to fly the SID are not available then the aircraft will instead fly a Non Standard Departure Instruction.
  Ground based navigational aids will be unavailable on 16th/17th October and 6th November 2013 and so some departing aircraft will be given Non Standard Departure Instructions on these days that will cause them to fly outside of the normal Preferred Noise Routes.

Area B Car Park north of Ringway Road
Land to north of Ringway Road, bound to the west by Shadowmoss Road and to the east by Styal Road was allocated for Airport Car Parking and Surface Access in the Manchester Core Strategy. This land was also listed for such a use in the Land use Plan of the Manchester Airport Master Plan to 2030 published in 2007 (and in the preceding Master Plans that covered the decades before). In February 2013 we presented various options for the land around the parking area and asked our neighbours to feedback on their preferred options. We have now had the opportunity to consider the feedback received and have a refined proposal we would like feedback on; before a planning application is submitted:

• We are holding a second Outreach event on Wednesday 15th May 2013 between 17:00 and 20:00 hrs in the Park Suite of the LifeStyle Centre (Portway, Wythenshawe M22 1QW). Members of the Planning and Community Relations Team will be available to have focused one to one conversations about our refined proposal.
• You can view our plans for the car park here; these plans naturally include the options selected by the majority of local residents for the land around the site

We welcome your comments either by e-mail: planning@manairport.co.uk or in person at the Lifestyle Centre on Wednesday 15th May. If you require clarification please e-mail planning@manairport.co.uk.

Any feedback will need to be received by Manchester Airports Groups by 29th May 2013, although you will of course be able to comment directly to Manchester City Council once our application has been submitted.

The runway refurbishment programme 2010-2011 & future runway maintenance
We have created a web page with details of the runway refurbishment programme completed in December 2011 and the dates of any future closures required for maintenance.

Airfield Security and Perimeter Fence

As residents close to the Airport will have observed we are now two years in to a works programme that will enhance the security of the airfield. These works include the improvement/replacement of the security fence.

The new sections of fence are of a more secure standard utilising a concrete base and new welded mesh fencing. Wherever possible there will is a 3-metre gap on either side of the new fence to afford vehicle access for future maintenance. Pictured here are sections of security fence already replaced on the west side of the apron near the cargo centre. When these works are complete our airfield will be compliant with the revised Department for Transport Airport Security guidelines.

We have more than 9 miles of security fencing around the airfield perimeter and over time we will replace all of it. We are naturally focusing on those areas that we have identified as being particularly old or in need of repair.

Over the summer months our programme will include:

• The fence line to south of Runway 2
•  The fence line to near to Terminal 3

On this page we will provide updates from time to time as the work progresses and let you know which areas will be replaced as they are identified and work schedules produced.

Contact us
If there are any questions or particular concerns that are not addressed on this page please e-mail the Community Relations Team at:
community.relations@manairport.co.uk
Or call 08000 967 967.

If you have any suggestions about how to improve this page please let us know.

Last updated 13th May 2013