Following a meeting with Greg, easyJet has agreed to cut the noise from their aircraft operating out of Gatwick.

At this meeting which took place in London on Tuesday 14 July, Greg got a commitment from the Chief Executive of easyJet, Carolyn McCall, to complete the modification of their older Airbus A320 planes based at Gatwick by June 2016 – two years faster than originally announced.

The older Airbus A320 planes produce a particularly disturbing high-pitched whining noise which is caused by the Fuel Over Pressure Protector (FOPP) cavities. This problem can be easily fixed by retrofitting the planes with a simple piece of kit called a flow deflector.

Greg commented:

"When I met the Chief Executive of easyJet, Carolyn McCall, I told her about the concerns of my constituents living under the Gatwick flightpath and I am pleased to say that she committed to doing everything that she can to help ease this situation, including bringing forward the modification of their older A320 planes based at Gatwick. When easyJet first announced that they were going to modify their fleet after some months of pressing them on this issue, the completion date given was March 2018 – her agreement to bring this work forward by two years is a very significant step and I told her that this action would be warmly welcomed by local people.

"I also took the opportunity to tell Carolyn McCall about the impact that the movement of the Gatwick flightpath has had on our local area resulting in planes flying in a narrower path over more populated areas. Whilst this is not within the gift of easyJet to change, she did agree to raise this matter with the National Air Traffic Service (NATS). I have also requested a meeting with the Chief Executive of NATS specifically on this issue as I think more can be done to disperse flights over a wider area."