A few days ago, Heathrow released its latest “Fly Quiet and Clean” report which shows which airlines are using the quietest and cleanest aircrafts at their airport. The report also shows which airlines are using the noisiest and dirtiest (pollution wise) aircrafts and Kuwait Airways topped that list.
At first I thought it was because Kuwait Airways was flying their old planes to London but I just checked the route while writing up this post and they’re actually flying their new 777 planes. Since this report is for Q2 of this year which runs from April to June, I figured Kuwait Airways might have been running their older 747 planes back then. So I asked a friend of mine who’s a flight attendant with Kuwait Airways and flies the Kuwait London route and I was right. Kuwait Airways has only been using their new 777 plane on that route for just the past two months. This means Kuwait Airways should end up much higher on the list in the next report because of their quieter and less polluting new planes.
Anyway you can see the full rankings over [Here]
19 replies on “Kuwait Airways Ranked the Noisiest and Dirtiest Airline at Heathrow”
If you click on Kuwait Airways you will see the criteria they used. The fact that they fly 777’s is actually the biggest problem. The 777 is a huge plane a with a large capacity, but with Kuwait Airways its usually empty. That makes the noise per seat, and pollution per seat figures at the maximum.
But the plane is also newer meaning it uses less fuel, makes less noise and pollutes the air less. And I highly doubt the kuwait london route is usually empty. I’ve never flown that Kuwait Airways route but I’d imagine it being one of their busiest routes. But now you’ve got me curious so gonna check with my friend if her route is busy or not.
She just got back to me, she says the flight is busy, so busy they actually have to flights a day to London.
OK then, there goes that theory… A full 777 is very efficien, and therefore you’re original conclusion is right. Something is very wrong with this report.
PS>. Could it be skewed by the fact that Kuwait Airways was doing the cross Atlantic flights from Shannon?
The report is for Q2, the new planes started flying Q3
I need to work on my reading comprehension skills. Yes you are right! Makes perfect sense. Should have made perfect sense to me from the beginning too.
I bet its only busy during the summer when the ‘shabbab’ head over to ‘Landaan’.
it is mainly because of the flights timing .. check 7th factor (Early or late movements between 23:30 and 04:30) .. and who cares it doesn’t affect the passengers.
I really don’t see why anyone would care tbh. it’s the earliest direct flight to Heathrow, cheapest and you get really good service (which tbh freaked me out cause I haven’t flown Kuwait airways but heard horror stories bout it) plus as a bonus the terminal (I think it’s terminal 3) is practically empty when the plane lands so I literally only took 20 Minutes from plane to luggage. It’s weird how the airline uses the same plane as BA and is packed yet is the dirtiest an noisiest… but it’s the U.K’s problem not mine tbh.
Noise pollution is a huge political issue in communities surrounding Heathrow which is why the government (local as well as national) is keen to manage it down. It is quite conceivable that repeat offenders (airlines) may at some point be penalized to bring them in line, which can increase the cost of travel on those airlines or even reduce flight frequencies.
For those thinking this report does not affect customers, it actually might. Lack of adherence to noise abatement, etc result in penalties — money. Kuwait Airways can easily roll over the expected penalties to our ticket fare (if they don’t already do that). From the below criteria which I got from the linked report, most of these (if not all) can be penalized for lack of adherence. The UK is particularly strict with these regulations.
1. Noise quota count/seat
2. Chapter number (noise certification)
3. NOx emissions/seat
4. CAEP standard (engine emissions certification)
5. Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) violations
6. Track keeping (TK) violations
7. Early or late movements between 23:30 and 04:30
I got the below example from another airport (in the US) which publicly share their policies and penalties:
[https://www.lgb.org/information/noise_abatement/frequently_asked_questions.asp#432]
If a plane violates the Noise Ordinance, how much are they fined?
The initial phases of our violation process are educational: the first time an owner/operator violates, they will receive a complete packet including a copy of our Noise Ordinance, an outline of what the infraction was, a letter from GANC offering assistance with procedures, and a warning letter asking them to contact noise abatement staff.
The second violation involves a notification letter of infraction and a request for a written noise abatement program, where we ask the owner/operator to communicate how they plan to operate without violating our ordinance in the future.
The third violation is a fine of $100 dollars. The fourth and every subsequent fine of 300 dollars. Please note that Military aircraft are exempt from this policy.
Maybe they are talking of the ruckus Kuwaiti passengers usually make at check in, at immigration, at gate, on flight, everywhere and anywhere !!!
Lol, sounds like Kuwait
That is not true. There is no noise in Kuwait. Everyone is busy on their phones – when driving, having a nice breakfast with family or friends or when they are off to sleep. Kudos to Samsung and Apple for the their phones enabling this lack of noise!!! 🙂
This is in no way exclusive to Kuwait though. You see it becoming the norm everywhere it’s just happening faster in some places.
Also in Kuwait it’s still socially acceptable to play youtube videos on your phone at max speaker volume which is not quiet at all
Changing the plane type will improve some metrics, but Kuwait Airways also falls near the bottom on the metrics related to flight management/pilot skills (5 and 6) and is already ranked number one on metric 7 so no improvement can be made there.
If it’s any consolation, Heathrow has c*cked up the calculation of the Fly Quiet & Clean results in a big way (affecting all the airlines) and Kuwait actually comes in at Number 49, not 50.
The worst airline in the corrected table is in fact Turkish Airlines’ shorthaul operations, so that’s some small comfort.
Kuwait came in 50 NOT 49 not that it makes a big difference. They were 49 in Q1 but in Q2 they dropped down to 50. The source is linked in the post.
Actually, Kuwait were 46th in Q1. Heathrow c*cked up that calculation too.
True, it doesn’t make a lot of difference to KU, but it matters to carriers like Delta, who merited first place in Q2 based on their performance, but were pushed down to 7th place by dodgy arithnetic from Heathrow that any school maths student could spot.