Devised in collaboration with members of our Airport Consultative Committee, our Night Flying Policy outlines clear parameters, restrictions and limits for nighttime operations (23:30 to 06:00) at Birmingham Airport.
Our current Night Flying Policy year runs from 27th October 2025 to 25th October 2026.
The four key limiting mechanisms through which the Night Flying Policy serves to mitigate aircraft noise at night are:
An annual Air Transport Movement (ATM) limit of 7,528 (7.3% of total movements)
An annual Quota Count (QC) Limit of 2,800
An annual scheduled departure limit of 877 between 2330-0500
An absolute total departure limit between 2330-0500 (to include both scheduled and non-scheduled departures) of 1162.
This is in addition to an enforced nighttime noise limit of 81 dB and a restriction on scheduling noisier aircraft, with those classified as Quota Count 1 or above prohibited from operating during the night period.
The full Night Flying Policy document can be found here.
Quota Counting is a method used by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to limit the noise impact of aircraft at airports across the UK. The Quota Count (QC) system assigns a points rating to each aircraft based on its noise certification. The total QC for an airport is the sum of the QC ratings for all aircraft arrivals and departures. The QC rating is based on the aircraft's certificated noise level, which is measured in effective perceived noise decibels (EPNdB). The EPNdB bands are grouped for QC purposes, with successive classifications increasing by multiples of two. For example, a QC/1 aircraft has twice the impact of a QC/0.5 aircraft.
Birmingham Airport does not allow any aircraft with a QC greater than 1 to be scheduled to operate between 2330- 0600 (local) hours. The annual night flying year quota limit during the Night Period for 2025/26 is 2,800.
Birmingham Airport publicly shares quarterly updates on performance against our Night Flying Policy within our Community Noise Reports which can be found here.