Air Departure Tax reduction in Scotland: noise impact assessment

Potential impact on noise levels of our plans to reduce the overall burden of Air Departure Tax (ADT) by 50%.


Footnotes

1 The five included airports are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Prestwick and Inverness.

2 These six scenarios are consistent with the Scottish Government’s Air Departure Tax in Scotland: An Economic Assessment publication http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/12/2270. Three additional scenarios; 1b, 2b, 3b (Partial Pass Through) were included in that work which have not been modelled here. We have sought to identify the range of potential noise impacts and noise impacts from those scenarios would likely fall within that range.

3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty

4 Sound is pressure fluctuations in the air, typically measured in pascals (Pa). Between the quietest audible sound and the loudest tolerable sound there is a million to one ratio in the pressure level. Because of this wide range a noise level scale based on logarithms is used in noise measurement called the decibel (dB) scale. The human ear system does not respond uniformly to sound across the detectable frequency range and consequently instrumentation used to measure noise is weighted to represent the performance of the ear. This is known as the 'A weighting' and annotated as dB (A).

5  LAeq,16h is the average equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level over a 16-hour period from 07:00 to 23:00 accounting for the daily average of aircraft movements during the 92-day summer period from 19 June to 15 September.

6  Lnight is the average sound level over an 8-hour night-time period (23:00hrs to 07:00hrs) using the average daily aircraft movements during the 92-day summer period from 19 June to 15 September.

http://www.parliament.scot/Air%20Departure%20Tax%20Scotland%20Bill/SPBill03PMS052016.pdf

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2017/2/contents

9  Airport operators are as follows: Aberdeen – Aberdeen International Airport Ltd; Edinburgh – Edinburgh Airport Ltd; Glasgow – Glasgow Airport Ltd; Inverness – Highlands and Islands Airports Limited; and Prestwick – Prestwick Aviation Holdings Ltd.

10  The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006, para. 13. Available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2006/465/pdfs/ssi_20060465_en.pdf

11  Edinburgh Airport (2014) Edinburgh Airport Noise Action Plan 2013 – 2018 [online] available at http://www.edinburghairport.com/about-us/community-and-environment/edinburgh-airport-noise-lab/edinburgh-airport-noise-action-plan

12  Glasgow Airport (2014) Glasgow Airport Noise Action Plan 2013 – 2018 [online] available at 

http://www.glasgowairport.com/media/119680/gla-nap-web.pdf

13  Aberdeen International Airport (2013) Aberdeen International Airport Noise Action Plan [online] available at https://noise.environment.gov.scot/pdf/Aberdeen-International-Airport-Noise-Action-Plan.pdf 

14  Lden is the average of the day, evening and night sound levels, weighted for the sensitivity of the different time periods.

15 The Scottish Government (2014) Dundee Airport Noise Action Plan [online] available at http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00456794.pdf 

16  A receptor is a technical term which refers to any premises (e.g. residential or non-residential premises such as schools, hospitals, theatres etc.) or area that is sensitive to noise.

17  The Stationery Office Limited (2013) Aviation Policy Framework [online] available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/153776/aviation-policy-framework.pdf

18  The level of assistance to be provided for moving house is not defined in the APF. The level of assistance is defined by individual airports and tends to consist of either a percentage of the property sale price or a lump sum.

19  Airports Commission (2014); Appraisal Framework.

20  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32002L0049&from=EN 

21  Civil Aviation Authority (2017); CAP 1506, Survey of noise attitudes 2014: Aircraft.

22  Brooker P, Critchley J B, Monkman D J & Richmond C (1985); DR Report 8402: 

United Kingdom Aircraft Noise Study: Main Report.

23  Civil Aviation Authority (2017); CAP 1506, Survey of noise attitudes 2014: Aircraft.

24  Department for Transport (2017), UK Airspace Policy: A framework for balanced decisions on the design and use of airspace. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/588186/uk-airspace-policy-a-framework-for-balanced-decisions-on-the-design-and-use-of-airspace-web-version.pdf

25  http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1&Itemid=2.html

26  http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00528693.pdf

27  Department for Transport (2013); UK Aviation Forecasts.

28  https://www.caa.co.uk/Data-and-analysis/UK-aviation-market/Airports/Datasets/UK-airport-data/

29  Yearly PAX data supplied by Peter Brett Associates

30  https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Pages/noise.aspx

31  Aircraft noise has been controlled since the 1970s by the setting of design noise limits for aircraft in the form Standards and Recommended Practices, which are contained in Volume I of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Chapter 14 replaces the Chapter 4 design standard and contains more stringent noise limits for new aircraft to comply with.

32  https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/household-projections/2012-based/2012-house-proj-publication.pdf

33  https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/household-projections/2012-based/2012-house-proj-publication.pdf

34  Society of Automotive Engineers, (1995); Aerospace Information Report 1845, Procedure for the Calculation of Airplane Noise in the Vicinity of Airports.

35  European Civil Aviation Conference, (2005); Doc 29, 3rd Edition, Report on Standard Method of Computing Noise Contours around Civil Airports.

36  International Civil Aviation Organisation, (2008); Doc 9911 Recommended Method for Computing Noise Contours Around Airports Edition 1.

37  http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1&Itemid=2.html

38  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-aviation-forecasts-2013

39  https://www.caa.co.uk/Data-and-analysis/UK-aviation-market/Airports/Datasets/UK-airport-data/

40  https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/about-ryanair/fleet

Contact

Email: adt@gov.scot

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