Slightly Steeper Approaches

Minimising the impact of aircraft noise is a priority for Heathrow. We have been at the forefront of efforts to tackle noise and as a result Heathrow's noise footprint has shrunk considerably over the past few decades. The permanent adoption of Slightly Steeper Approaches at Heathrow is one of the steps we are taking as we continue to make efforts to reduce the impact of noise.

Slightly Steeper Approaches have been in operation at Heathrow on a temporary basis following trials held between 2015 and 2017. Most aircraft arriving into Heathrow fly a standard 3.0° approach angle which is similar to most airports around the world. However, a small percentage fly a slightly steeper 3.2° approach, causing them to fly higher for longer. The trials demonstrated that this helps to reduce the noise footprint on the ground.

In March 2021 we launched a four week consultation on the permanent adoption of Slightly Steeper Approaches for some of the aircraft arriving at the airport as part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Airspace Change Process. Details of the consultation are available here. We would like to thank everyone who responded to this consultation.

We continue to follow the CAA's Airspace Change Process and the latest information is available on the CAA Portal.