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A significant overhaul of UK airspace to modernise flight paths will be implemented under new government plans.

The government has announced the launch of the UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS), which is tasked with redesigning flight paths in the skies above the country.

UKADS will be fully operational by the end of the year and is being run by the National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

Martin Rolfe, CEO of NATS, said: “The UK’s airspace network is one of the busiest and most complex in the world.

“We handle a quarter of Europe’s traffic despite having only 11% of its airspace, with one of the best safety and delay records anywhere. However, we have to modernise airspace if we are to maintain this level of performance as traffic grows towards three million flights per year.”

The UK airspace shake-up will mark the first major redesign of the routes in more than 70 years.

In the 1950s, there there were only around 200,000 flights year in UK airspace. Last year, said the Civil Aviation Authority...

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  • in reply to Mark Tickner

    Hello Mark:

    I left the UK to emigrate to Toronto Canada in July 1958 from Heathrow airport in 1958.

    During the night flight, the pilot came on the speaker system to highlight the fact that the apparent flames coming out of the engines were perfectly normal.

    We had to land for refueling the plane at Goose Bay. 

    Peter Brooks

  • in reply to Peter Brooks

    1950s - de Havilland Comet (1952), Boeing 707 (1957). The Comet is perhaps not the best example although it did ultimately have a long service life in the form of the Nimrod.

    But i agree, the alternative would possibly be to look at the 1960s.

  • Comparing aircraft flights from the 1950's to those of 2025 is not really a good metric. In the 1950"s the planes contained a much smaller number of passengers and by the way were not powered by jet engines.

    A more meaningful number should be the number of passengers passing though the UK airports per year.

    Peter Brooks

    Palm Bay FL

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