While there are defined flight paths for departing aircraft, there are none for arriving until aircraft are established on the Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), also known as the final approach.

This is because there is less operational flexibility in landing a plane than there is in taking off. The reason for this is because planes have to line up with the runway from several miles away in order to carry out a stable approach as to not jeopardise aircraft safety.

We’ve made it a requirement that all aircraft flying into LLA adopt a continuous descent approach (CDA) that significantly reduces noise. Fundamentally CDA keeps an aircraft higher off the ground for longer, uses less thrust and encourages a continuous steady descent.