What has changed?

NATS and London Luton Airport (LLA) proposed a change to the airport’s arrivals flightpaths, separating Luton and Stansted’s routes further out and higher up to reduce delays and ensure safety for the future. This change is now being reviewed by the CAA in line with its airspace change process (CAP1616)

To inform this NATS and LLA have jointly published the Post-Implementation Review (PIR). The PIR concludes that the AD6 airspace change has met its intended objective to maintain a high standard of safety by reducing complexity, air traffic controller (ATC) workload and delays for LLA arrivals, and consequential delays to Stansted Airport arrivals.

The AD6 airspace change comprises a new holding area near the A1-A14 junction approximately 9,000ft over Grafham Water, and changed flightpaths for 70% of the airport’s arrivals. There are minimal changes to existing flight paths below 5,000ft, but a different dispersion of flights above 5,000ft. The holding stack is only used during the busiest periods or if aircraft are unable to land immediately.

The change was implemented to simplify and modernise the arrival routes and holds previously shared by LLA and Stansted Airport. Separating the arrival routes and establishing dedicated holds for each airport has ensured continued safety and helped reduce delays at both airports. It also reduced the possibility of a delay at one airport resulting in a delay for the other due to aircraft queuing in the same hold.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved the airspace change in November 2021 following an extensive public consultation that ran from October 2020 to February 2021.

For more details on this airspace change, please visit the CAA portal.