London Terminal Manoeuvring Area

London’s airspace is among the most complex in the world, involving 12 airports and experiencing high levels of activity.

The scale of the proposed changes is too large for specialist resources (including air traffic controllers, airspace designers, pilots and regulators) to manage in one go, while simultaneously delivering a safe and efficient service to flights using the existing airspace.  As a result, the airspace changes required in the LTMA cluster will need to be delivered in a series of phased deployments. Each deployment will be made up of a sub-set of LTMA cluster airspace change proposals (ACPs) that are developed and implemented together.

The UK Government is working on a new UK Airspace Design Service which is envisioned to take on responsibility for progressing the LTMA once it is established.

In the meantime, ACOG is continuing work on the first of the phased deployments – London Airspace South (LAS).

London Airspace South

ACOG undertook analysis in 2021 and found a portion of airspace that could be implemented earlier than the broader system-wide change, and provide significant benefits earlier, known as London Airspace South (LAS).

LAS concentrates on a busy region of the UK’s airspace that extends from the Southeast of England, beyond the South coast to the boundary with French airspace.

The LAS Masterplan coordinates changes proposed by both Gatwick Airport to upgrade the arrival and departure routes to the south of the airport below 7,000 ft. and National Air Traffic (En Route) Services (NERL), the UK’s main navigation service provider, to upgrade the route network above 7,000 ft.

Learn more about where each of the change sponsors are at in the CAP1616 process using the links below.

Stakeholder engagement

ACOG conducted a public engagement exercise in 2024 to support the preparation of the Masterplan iteration 3 for the LAS deployment – you can find out more information here.

The feedback received during this public engagement exercise has now been analysed and a summary report published. In the report you will find the feedback received and a response from ACOG, including where the feedback has influenced Iteration 3 of the Masterplan for LAS.

The full report can be found here.

Other airports in the LTMA

For updates on the other airports in the LTMA, please refer to the CAA portal.