Edinburgh airport has launched its consultation on the impact of plane-related noise on local communities.

The draft 2024-2028 noise action plan has been released, and people are invited to respond between now and January 31, 2025.

A series of online meetings will take place with local communities and key stakeholders.

Once responses have been considered, the plan will be finalised and put into place.

Gordon Robertson, Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at Edinburgh Airport said: “It’s extremely important to us that we listen to and work with those living in areas most impacted when formulating our plans around noise management and mitigation.

“At present we have a host of measures in place, including penalties for airlines whose aircraft exceed certain decibel levels.

“However, we are always looking at how we can better develop our plans to further reduce the impact on local communities.

“Key to this will be input from residents, community groups, and other key stakeholders and we look forward to engaging with them on this draft Noise Action Plan.”

In 2023 14.4 million people flew through the airport, which is a Scottish annual record.

Councillor Dave Dempsey is the Fife Council representative on the Airport Consultative Committee. He said: “With all these consultations, it’s the case that nobody is in favour of more noise, but we all want to go on holiday.

“One of the problems with noise is that people show amazing variation in sensitivity to these things.

“I’m reminded that the airport has become the home base for a number of aircrafts. That’s a relatively new thing, and it means that if anything goes wrong with the schedules during the day there’s a domino effect, so the plane comes in later to Edinburgh.

“I know that they do charge more for flying at antisocial hours, but there is a trade-off.”

The consultation is separate from the Air Space Change Consultation, which deals with flight path. It was due to be launched at the end of November, but will now take place “some point next year”.

Previous plans failed to get off the ground due to the impact of Covid 19 on the aviation industry.

The Civil Aviation Authority had rejected the airport's plans in October 2018 because differences between the consultation and the final proposals were “too significant.”