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Night Time Noise

Edinburgh Airport

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December 2024

Trade Secret and Strictly Confidential

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ATMs in the ‘night period’ made up only 14.1% of total movements in YE Oct24 (vs 13.6% in 2023)

Night flights remain a very small proportion of total flights

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  • There were 16,859 ATMs in the ‘night’ period in YE Oct24, up from 15,699 in 2023
    • 70% of YE Oct24 ‘Night’ movements (11.8k) were from 23:00-00:00 and 05:00-07:00 (up from 66% in 2023)
  • ‘Night’ ATMs share stayed largely flat YOY (with ‘deep night’ ATMs as a share actually reducing over the summer vs 2023)
  • ‘Night’ flying continues to peak from Apr-Oct, given the busier summer season
  • The increase in ‘night’ ATMs is caused by passenger flights, other flights (such as cargo) have actually decreased vs 2023

Source: EAL ‘Actual Flown’ Data, Night Period: 23:00-06:59,

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Increase in flying over the night period has not been linear across all hours

Night flying broken down by hour

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  • The biggest increase in ‘night’ ATMs has been in the 06:00-07:00 hour
  • In the 00:00-04:59 period, ‘deep night’ ATMs have actually significantly reduced YOY (-6%)
    • This decrease is likely a result of airline operational improvements in 2024, reducing the amount of late running aircraft
  • The increase from 05:00-06:59 is driven by early departures
    • This is unlikely to increase further given airport capacity constraints and many airlines have crew restrictions on start time (e.g. Ryanair has to be post 05:45)

Source: EAL ‘Actual Flown’ Data, Night Period: 23:00-06:59

‘Deep night’ ATMs reduced by 323 ATMs (-6%) in YE Oct24 vs 2023

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Next generation aircraft are cleaner and produce less noise, meaning the impact on local communities is reduced

Growth in ‘Night’ movements has come from next generation aircraft

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  • Although ‘night’ ATMs have increased, all of the increase from 2019 to 2023 and YEOct24 can be attributed to next generation aircraft
  • Ryanair base 6 737MAX aircraft at EDI, easyJet base 3 A320neo aircraft, and Jet2 are set to bring new A321neo aircraft from 2024
  • Decreases in cargo flying will also reduce noise levels, given they tend to operate much older, noisier aircraft
  • The shift to using next generation aircraft will only increase in the coming years when looking at aircraft on order from based carriers

Source: EAL ‘Actual Flown’ Data, Night Period: 23:00-06:59

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Benefits for next generation aircraft are becoming clear, with EDI only set to benefit further in the future

Benefits of next Generation aircraft are clear

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  • The 737MAX and A320neo families of aircraft have a 50% smaller noise footprint than previous generation aircraft
  • EDI is incentivising airlines to use more efficient aircraft through it’s fees and charges
    • The Environmental Incentive scheme was introduced in 2023, to reward airlines with rebates on aero charges for those operating next generation aircraft
  • Ryanair currently have 6/11 based aircraft as MAXs, easyJet have 3/9 based aircraft as A320neos and Jet2 will have 3/7 based aircraft as A321neos by S25

Source: Simple Flying, Boeing, Airbus

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Late running flights are increasing night flying

Although the number of scheduled night flights increased in 2024, the actual increase has been smaller as operational disruption reduced

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  • The gap between ‘Actual’ night movements and ‘Scheduled’ night movements has narrowed in 2024 as operational disruption reduced
  • While there remain some significant issues, particularly around ATC staffing shortages across Europe and continued airspace congestion, it has not had the same impact in 2024
  • In 2024, there were only around 8-10 more ‘night’ ATMs than scheduled, compared to 12 in 2023

Source: EAL ‘Actual Flown’ Data, OAG Schedules Data; Night Period: 23:00-06:59, Deep night period is 00:00,-04:59

12% of scheduled flights were in the overall ‘night period’ in 2024 vs 11% in 2023

Only 3% of scheduled flights were in the ‘deep night period’ in 2024

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On time performance always dips in summer given the higher volumes, but it has worsened since the pandemic

There are signs OTP will improve this year

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  • The industry has had a big focus on improving reliability and operational performance moving into 2024
  • Some of the issues can be controlled – staffing shortages etc, others will take longer such as ATC congestion
  • OTP has improved slightly so far this year, with a 5 percentage point increase in OTP

Source: EAL Performance Data

EDI On Time Performance YOY Comparison

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Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 all have aircraft on order to replace older generation aircraft in their fleet

Aircraft orders from main based carriers

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