Bosses at Glasgow Airport have today published a Noise Action Plan to set out how they aim to deal with problems suffered by those living in its flightpaths.

The airport is required to publish an updated Noise Action Plan every five years.

And the plan for 2018-2023 has taken into consideration feedback gathered from local communities that neighbour the airport during a 13-week public consultation held earlier this year.

Airport chiefs said they have developed a package of measures over a number of years designed to minimise and mitigate the adverse effects of noise.

This latest plan includes the development of an enhanced policy to mitigate noise for a significantly higher number of residents from a wider area who are affected by aircraft noise.

It also features the introduction of a new WebTrak online flight tracking tool, which will provide members of the public with a "transparent" view of aircraft flightpaths and noise levels.

Mark Johnston, Glasgow Airport's managing director, said: “Operating such an important national asset comes with responsibilities and, in talking regularly with our neighbouring communities and stakeholders, we appreciate that airport-related noise is an important issue.

“Managing noise responsibly is not only an important part of our day-to-day operation, it is also vital in making sure the airport is able to grow but in a manner that continues to balance the positive economic and social benefits our connectively ensures with some of the more negative effects such as noise.

“We have previously implemented a comprehensive package of measures which have helped reduce the airport’s noise footprint and remain committed to doing so.

“The feedback we received during the public consultation from local communities proved invaluable in shaping the Noise Action Plan, which I’m pleased to announce will include an enhanced Noise Insulation Policy that will benefit hundreds of households locally and our new WebTrak online flight-tracking system, which is accessible via the Glasgow Airport website."

The Noise Action Plan is a requirement of a European Union Environmental Noise Directive, as well as the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

John Bynorth, policy and communications officer at Environmental Protection Scotland (EPS), has welcomed the airport’s decision to use an online tool to enable households to check which flights are going over their homes.

He said the airport’s new guidelines on decibel levels would also benefit residents living close to the flightpaths.

Mr Bynorth added: “The WebTrak system, used by airports around the world, is an excellent initiative which utilises the latest technology to enable residents to have the most up-to-date information possible so they can assess the decibel levels caused by specific flights which travel near their homes.

“It will allow them to find out the details of a particular flight so they can establish how regularly it uses a particular trajectory and the decibel levels caused by that aircraft close to their home.

“This sort of forward-thinking approach by Glasgow Airport provides additional reassurance for communities living under the flightpaths.

“The decision to lower the decibel threshold for the noise insulation scheme will also potentially benefit the lives of hundreds of households who may have concerns over aircraft noise.

“It shows that Glasgow Airport has listened to the views of residents in these communities during their consultation.”

A downloadable version of the Noise Action Plan for 2018-2023 is available at www.glasgowairport.com.