Stansted aircraft noise: flight paths, runway and night flights

One runway, two directions

Stansted has a single runway, 3 km long, running from north-east to south-west. Planes land and take off into the wind, so all the traffic runs one way or the other.

When the wind is from the south-west, as it usually is, planes land towards the south-west over Thaxted (runway 22) and take off towards Great Hallingbury and Sawbridgeworth. That happened on 60% of days over the last year. When the wind is from the north-east, it all turns round: planes land over the west of Harlow and past Sawbridgeworth (runway 04) and take off towards Broxted, then turn east towards Great Dunmow or north towards Debden. That happened on 26% of days. On the other 14%, the direction changed during the day.

Stansted's own figure is about 70% south-westerly over the long run, and the CAA's twenty-year average for summer days is 73%. But north-easterly days come in spells, and summer is no guarantee: in July 2026 there were more north-easterly days than south-westerly ones, and December, April and August each had close to four in ten. Our guide to why flight paths change with the wind explains the pattern.

Where landing planes fly

Stansted has no fixed routes for arriving planes until they are lined up with the runway. From there they descend on a straight line, so the same villages hear them at much the same height every time. In summer 2025 most arrivals lined up between 11 and 26 km out on south-westerly days, and between 9 and 28 km out on north-easterly days.

Landing from the north-east (south-westerly days), planes pass over Great Sampford, Thaxted and Broxted, then the edge of Elsenham parish just before the runway. They are typically between 2,050 and 2,600 ft over Great Sampford, about 1,400 ft over Thaxted, 700 ft over Broxted and 400 ft 2 km from the runway.

Landing from the south-west (north-easterly days), planes come in over the west of Harlow and Gilston, then High Wych, just north of Sawbridgeworth, and Great Hallingbury before the runway. The CAA notes that planes landing this way are generally lower further out than those landing towards the south-west, because the south-westerly approach is flown as a continuous descent and joined from higher up. Our figures show this only from about 15 km out; closer in, both approaches are at much the same height.

At night, landing planes may not join the final approach within 10 nautical miles (about 18 km) of touchdown, or descend below 3,000 ft before joining it.

Where take-offs go

Take-offs climb faster than landings descend and follow one of six set routes, three from each end of the runway: Buzad to the north, Clacton to the east and Dover to the south. Each is a corridor 3 km wide, and planes must stay in it until they reach 4,000 ft above sea level (3,000 ft on Buzad by day), after which air traffic control can send them on more directly. Pilots are also asked to avoid the centre of Bishop's Stortford, and not to fly over Sawbridgeworth or Stansted Mountfitchet below 2,500 ft above sea level.

On south-westerly days, just over half the take-offs turn left and head south-east, passing the Rodings around White Roothing at about 4,150 ft. Most of the rest carry on towards High Wych, west of Sawbridgeworth, at about 3,150 ft 8 km out.

On north-easterly days, most take-offs turn right and head east past Great Dunmow at about 3,450 ft, and just over a third go north over Debden at about 3,750 ft.

Night flights and quiet hours

Stansted is open 24 hours, and like Heathrow and Gatwick it has night rules set by the Department for Transport. For the three years from October 2025 to October 2028, the government kept its limits: between 23:30 and 06:00, 8,100 flights over the summer season and 5,600 over the winter, within a noise quota of 4,650 and 3,310 points. The airport may move 10% of its allowance between seasons, and it uses that to fly more in summer. Its noise action plan says the movement limit, rather than the noise quota, is now what stops night flights growing. The noisiest aircraft are banned at night altogether, and the noise limit for take-offs falls from 89 dB by day to 84 dB between 23:00 and 07:00.

Stansted is also the UK's third-largest cargo airport, and express parcel flights run to a night schedule. Counting the whole night from 23:00 to 07:00, 87 planes landed or took off on an average night over the last year, 15% of all its flights, and 159 on the busiest, 9 September 2026. Summer nights are the busiest: about 110 a night in August against about 70 from November to March. The CAA's count for summer 2025 was about 100 a night.

The shape of the night is distinctive. About 23 flights land or take off between 23:00 and midnight and about 18 in the hour after, the tail of the evening schedule. After that it drops to a few an hour until 05:00, and between 05:00 and 06:00 there is almost nothing. Then at 06:00, when the night quota period ends, the morning wave begins: about 35 flights between 06:00 and 07:00. On a typical night the longest stretch with no landings or take-offs is just under two hours, between about 04:00 and 06:00. Our guide to night flight rules explains how quotas like these work.

Busy days and quiet days

The CAA counted about 203,000 flights and 29.8 million passengers at Stansted in 2025, about 555 flights a day. Our count is higher, about 590 a day, partly because our year runs from September 2025 to September 2026 rather than the calendar year.

Traffic builds through the year, from about 520 flights a day in January to 653 in August. Thursdays and Fridays are the busiest days of the week, and Tuesdays the quietest.

For most homes near Stansted, the runway direction decides whether a day is loud, and the hour after 06:00 is busy almost every day. You can replay any day on the Stansted flight map.

Growth and changes ahead

Stansted won planning permission on appeal in 2021 to grow to 43 million passengers a year, within its existing limit of 274,000 flights a year, of which no more than 16,000 may be cargo flights. It has started a £1.1 billion programme to extend the terminal. The permission also caps the area inside its noise contours. Today the 57 dB daytime contour may not exceed 33.9 km²; in 2025 it was 26.9 km². From the first year Stansted passes 35 million passengers, the 54 dB daytime contour is capped at 57.4 km² and the 48 dB night contour at 74 km², tightening again by 2032 or at 43 million passengers, whichever comes first.

On top of the government's limits, Stansted's noise action plan for 2024 to 2028 sets out a quota limit of its own covering the whole night from 23:00 to 07:00 in summer, from 2026. The government's night rules run until October 2028, when they will be reviewed. London's airspace is also being redesigned by the UK Airspace Design Service, run by NATS since May 2026; no dates have been set for new Stansted flight paths.

Complaints, insulation and help

To complain, find the flight on Stansted's WebTrak and complain from there, or use the airport's online form, email stanstednoiseline@stanstedairport.com, leave a message on the free answerphone, 0800 243 788, or write to the Flight Evaluation Unit at Stansted. Include your full address and the date and time. Stansted aims to reply within eight working days. If you are not satisfied, the Civil Aviation Authority takes aircraft noise complaints once the airport has had the chance to respond.

To check a flight, WebTrak shows the tracks and heights of every aeroplane arriving or departing, with a 24-hour delay. Stansted's Community Noise Portal adds readings from its noise monitors.

For help with insulation, Stansted's Sound Insulation Grant Scheme was enlarged in 2023, adding about 800 homes. It now covers up to the full cost of the work, with grants by zone:

• Zone A: up to £5,000.
• Zone B: up to £8,000.
• Zone C and Zone D: up to £10,000. Homes in Zone D, the loudest, can also get help with the cost of moving.

The grants pay for double glazing, ventilation in living rooms and bedrooms, and loft insulation. Stansted's website explains how to check your zone and apply.