Jet lands airport in a fresh noise row Mar 23 2004
By Emma Snodgrass And Ben Griffin
Campaigners and bosses at Coventry Airport are embroiled in a new row over plane noise - a week before the first official no-frills flight takes off.
People fighting expansion of passenger flights at the airport have hit out at opera-tors TUI for their "cynical spin" after the first Boeing 737 passenger jet touched down at Baginton last week.
The day after the plane landed, TUI released a statement claiming no noise complaints had been received. Experts measured the noise above Stoneleigh at 55dB, compared to 80dB for later freight flights.
But frustrated residents living near the airport claim they have given up complaining to the airport because nothing is ever done to alleviate noise problems.
Tomorrow a Boeing 757 plane - with more than 100 more passenger seats than the Boeing 737 - will have a test landing at Baginton.
The airport claims this is necessary in case any "technical" difficulties ground their other planes.
Airport campaigner Archie Muir said: "This is a cynical piece of spin. It is not a proper reflection of the noise levels locals are subjected to.
"We knew the plane was coming.
"But an unladen plane is much quieter than a fully laden plane and a plane coming in and taking off between 6pm and 7pm is doing so when the ground noise is reasonably high anyway.
"It will be very noticeable when they touch down in the middle of the night, late at night or in early morning.
"If he is suggesting when we complain he will do something about it, we will flood him with complaints."
Bill Savage, managing director of Coventry Airport, said the lack of complaints demonstrated the "aircraft will not prove to be a noise nuisance to local residents and so augurs well for the reintroduction of scheduled passenger flights from the end of March".
Russell Ison, from TUI, said the larger Boeing 757 planes owned by TUI's sister company Britannia, would only be used if there was a technical fault with one of the 131-seat 737s. He said the plane would land, turn round, and take off again, but was unable to say what time it would happen.
"It's purely a test," he said. "It is not a big event."
