My comment that huge swathes of the UK are empty is accurate.
It is
totally accurate! Just compare population distribution in Scotland v. England.
However, I was just pointing out that even in the Benelux region, there are also areas of lower and higher population density - Belgium spreads out a bit beneath the Liege - Charleroi axis, there is also quite a bit of space around Apeldoorn in NL.
Having lived under the flightpath in west Middlesex for many years (and old enough to remember the noisy jets of the 1960s), yes I can!
Are planes getting quieter? - yes they are, we both agree.
My point was that the
sheer number of people exposed to high noise levels around LHR is still far greater than anywhere else - as an
outright figure, even if the noise is slowly declining.
LHR noise (#exposed people) > MAD, CDG, AMS & FRA combined and also is approx 20x STN + LGW combined.
That is the challenge.
Now if we keep talking about it long enough (and make no mistake, the DfT document is nothing other than a talking shop with zero content), the next but one generation of aircraft might be genuinely
silent, rather than just quiet, and you can have your 3rd runway no problem.