Airspace – Public Consultation
Update: 13th March 2024 – Oxford Aviation Services Limited is the owner of London Oxford Airport and we have now formally commenced an Airspace Change Proposal (ACP) – ACP-2023-033.
We are at Stage One of a seven-stage process as part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s CAP 1616 “Airspace Change Process” and CAP1616F “Guidance on Airspace Change Process for Permanent Airspace Change Proposals”. We have identified and contacted many relevant stakeholders required for this process. This stage is about informing them of our current operation and suggesting draft design principles for them to consider and respond to. You can download a document here that explains our current operation, why we are commencing an ACP, and our suggested design principles, many of which are mandated. We have also attached an MS Word document here – ‘Design Principles Stakeholder Questions’, to capture responses, should you wish to respond by this method; other options to respond can be found on page 24 under ‘Feedback’ within the ‘OXF-ACP-2023-033 Stage 1b -StakeholderEngagement’ overview document.
There are multiple stakeholders to be contacted and some of the contact details we have may be incorrect. If this is the case, please advise us of the correct contact details, or request that you are removed from our stakeholder list, and/or advise who would be a more appropriate point of contact, if you know who that would be. If you do not wish to participate, please advise us. Reponses regarding the draft ‘Design Principles’ must be received by 24 April 2024.
If you have any questions, please contact acp@londonoxfordairport.com
Update: 10th May 2023 – The airport has notified the UK CAA that it is preparing another proposal for new Instrument Approach Procedures for both runway 01 (southern approaches) and runway 19 (northern approaches). This is the first step (Step 1a) in the UK’s ACP (Airspace Change) process and can be followed using Airspace change ID: ACP-2023-033
This proposal will be for a permanent change to the notified airspace design and the change level is TBC. The detailed process requirements are published in Part 1 of CAP 1616. This will be to develop suitable Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP) for RWY 01 and supplement existing IAPs for RWY 19. Correspondingly, the consideration of appropriate and proportionate airspace to reasonably protect commercial aircraft recovering when using these IAPs.
During the Assess Requirement Step (1a), the airport will be preparing a Statement of Need setting out what airspace issue it is seeking to address. Having reviewed the Statement of Need, the CAA meets with the change sponsor (the airport) to agree whether an airspace change is a relevant option to consider and to have a first discussion about the appropriate scale of the airspace change process.
Update: 11th February 2021 – With the rejection by the CAA today of the London Oxford Airport ACP submission (dated 23rd July 2020), we are extremely disappointed with the decision. We believe this is a bad day for aviation safety. We are now considering our options before deciding how to proceed.
Update: 12th August 2020 – The formal London Oxford Airport ACP submission dated 23rd July 2020 was published online today by the CAA (link) but can also be downloaded here (PDF-16MB). This includes the proposal for a TMZ (SFC-3,500) to the north of the airport (approximately 6nm wide and 10nm long) and the RNAV (GNSS) approaches and missed approach procedures on both RWY 01 and RWY19.
Further commentary will be added in due course, for now, this is to merely highlight the publication of the ACP submission in the public domain.
Update: 1st November – London Oxford Airport is pleased to publish the Consultation Feedback Report following the public consultation that was held between 15th December 2017 and 5th April 2018 on a proposed airspace design and Instrument Flight Procedures.
The Airport would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the consultation. The fundamental purpose was to understand how stakeholders might be impacted by our proposed changes. We have analysed the responses and now have a good understanding of the key areas of concern. This has enabled us to make some design modifications to our proposal including a review of the proposed classification of airspace.
Thank you again for your interest in London Oxford Airport and for taking the time to respond.
Download the ACP Consultation report here.
Update: 5th June – Following closure of the Consultation, and in light of the responses received, London Oxford Airport are undertaking a detailed review of the proposed airspace design and the alternative suggestions provided during the consultation period. LOA are considering the suggestions in general terms, but also considering specific alternative solutions for each element of the proposed airspace. Once this review is completed, London Oxford Airport will publish a Consultation Feedback Report that will detail the nature of the responses received and highlight in what ways LOA will seek to mitigate the causes of the objections received.
2nd March Update: The RAF is in the process of transitioning all individual station websites to a new webpage. RAF Brize Norton was transitioned earlier this week. Therefore, the information concerning the RAF Brize Norton Airspace Change Proposal can now be accessed from the following LINK.
5th February Update: London Oxford Airport will be hosting two public drop in sessions to allow interested stakeholders the opportunity to view the proposal and clarify certain aspects of the proposal with members of the Airspace Change Consultation Team. The events will be held at the London Oxford Airport terminal on the following dates:
Wednesday 21st February 2018 between 20:00hrs to 22:00 hrs
Tuesday 27th February 2018 between 14:00hrs to 18:00 hrs.
Instructions on how to find the airport can be found at the link here.
Due to restrictions on parking, security and fire regulations, we kindly ask those who wish to attend to register in advance by providing the following details:
- Name
- Type of stakeholder e.g. Aviation / non-aviation stakeholder
- Vehicle details including Model, Colour and Registration No.
- Which session you wish to attend
Please send the above information to the following email address – LondonOxfordAirportConsultation@ospreycsl.co.uk marking the email as ‘Public Drop-In Attendance’.
Update – 12.01.18 Thank you for taking the time to view our Consultation Document. You will be aware that this consultation is running alongside, but separate to, that of the RAF Brize Norton consultation for an Airspace Change. Some of the stakeholders have suggested that the images within the RAF Brize Norton Consultation could have been clearer. Whilst the original images were an accurate representation of the airspace, new images have been produced that might be easier to interpret by some stakeholders. In light of the time taken to reproduce these images, RAF Brize Norton has agreed to extend the consultation period by 2 weeks to allow stakeholders additional time to consider the new images. Since both London Oxford Airport and RAF Brize Norton ACPs are running concurrently, we intend to apply the same extension to our consultation period. Therefore, our consultation will now close on Thursday 5th April 2018.
We recommend that all stakeholders visit this website regularly to be sure to receive all available updates.
Procedures and airspace designs at London Oxford Airport (LOA) and at neighbouring RAF Brize Norton (BZN) are widely recognised as having been devised many years ago when the air traffic demands within the local area were quite different. Modernising airspace is a key requirement of the Civil Aviation Authority’s Future Airspace Strategy to ensure we use that airspace as efficiently as possible. To do this, modern technologies must be harnessed, and GPS based arrival, departure and approach procedures implemented where appropriate. LOA is looking to introduce new arrival procedures and to restructure the local airspace in a manner that enhances levels of safety, improves efficiency by reducing the number of broken off approaches and ensures effective coordination between LOA and BZN. These procedures have been developed to ensure that LOA and BZN traffic can be safely coordinated.
Of course, LOA recognises that aviation and non-aviation stakeholders may have strong views regarding the proposed airspace changes; in recognition of this fact we wish to consult with our local stakeholders, to describe our proposed changes, and offer you the opportunity to pass on your thoughts and concerns before we submit our final proposal to the Regulator. We encourage all consultees to provide us with supportive comments as well as any concerns. Additionally, even if you have no strong feelings either way, please tell us that is the case, as all opinions are valid and help to provide a reflection of the opinion of the wider community. Responses can be sent via email to consultation@londonoxfordairport.com
The Consultation PDF Document can be viewed here: LINK
To view RAF Brize Norton’s airspace consultation, running concurrently with ours, click here : LINK
The consultation opened on 15 December 2017 and closed on 5th April 2018.