The UK Government is to spend a whopping £5.5. million on upgrading the 'motorways in the sky', which, if you have never heard of them are the air routes followed by aircraft leaving and arriving at UK airports.
Aviation Minister Robert Courts said:
As an island nation, our airspace is vital in keeping us connected to the rest of the world.
Modernising our ‘sky motorways’ could put an end to the days of circling the airport waiting for a landing slot, improving efficiency, and leading to flights that are quicker, quieter and greener than ever before.
As with the new "smart" motorways on the ground, the improvements will cause some disruption:
- Any flights arriving from the West over the M3 will be subject to a 50mph speed limit for at least the next 2 years
- All flights will be required to circle around the M25 three times if they have not paid the new green congestion charge
- There will be a permanent tailback of flights approaching London from the North along the M1
- Average speed cameras will be used to track landing aircraft and fines issued for planes exceeding the landing speed limit
- Planes arriving from EU airspace will be required to circle around Dover to view the chaos on the ground due to complying with EU regulations
There will also be numerous unscheduled delays as air traffic controllers leave their desks every hour or so to sit in white vans in the parking lot reading the Sun, having a bacon sarnie and checking their twitter feeds.