Residents living near Manchester Airport’s second runway could be in for a few sleepless nights as bosses carry out maintenance work.
Runway one will be closed for two nights this week as staff make improvements.
Between 10pm and 6am between Tuesday and Wednesday and Wednesday and Thursday all flights will take off and land from runway two.
Airport chiefs insist the level of noise will ‘remain the same’, but will affect those living to the south of the airport towards Knutsford; closer to runway two.
Those towards Styal, around runway one, usually bear the brunt of the noise from inbound flights during the night.
In March, maintenance work took place on the eastern taxiways adjoining runway one.
Further closures are pencilled in for September 1 and 2; October 6 and 7; November 3 and 4; and December 1 and 2 but work could be delayed in the event of bad weather or low visibility.
The £20m refurbishment of runway one in 2010/11 saw work carried out that has reduced the need for maintenance but being in use 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, the runway and its taxiways still need sprucing up from time to time.
Maintenance includes line painting, drain cleaning and surface inspection. Rubber deposits from tyres are also periodically removed.
The airport is to get a dramatic £1bn transformation, with a super-sized terminal and faster high-tech security lanes over the next decade.
The scheme will more than double the size of Terminal Two and link it to an improved Terminal Three. Ageing Terminal One will be demolished.
Bosses aim to slash off-peak security queues to just five minutes - and double the number of airport jobs to 40,000 within 30 years; and adding 10m annual passengers in just a decade.
There will be at least 50 food and drink outlets, more stands for aircraft and better links for connecting passengers.
The project is also aimed at attracting airlines and adding new long-haul routes to Asia and the east and west coasts of America.
Plans are now in the final stages and work is due to start next April, with a goal of completing Terminal Two by 2023.
By 2022, Terminal One, which was built in 1962, will be shut.
Source: ManchesterEveningNews