London Stansted Airport has won Best Individual Community Project at the 2016 National CSR Awards for its pioneering community partnership to reduce aircraft noise for over 4,000 people living close to the airport.

The judging panel awarded the coveted prize to Stansted in recognition of the innovative new take-off procedure, Performance Based Navigation, that uses modern Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to enable aircraft to fly flight paths more accurately when departing from the airport and reduce the number of people overflown.

The airport worked on the unique initiative alongside its consultative committee (STACC), easyJet and NATS (air traffic provider) for a total of five years from design to introduction of a concept previously untested in the UK. The results show that up to 85% fewer people are directly overflown by aircraft using this new procedure.

Andrew Cowan, Stansted’s CEO, said: “I’m very proud and absolutely delighted Stansted has won Best Community project at the prestigious National CSR Awards. This is a great achievement against stiff competition and a fantastic endorsement of the innovative and unique work we have undertaken in partnership with our consultative committee, local community and industry partners to reduce noise impacts in the areas closest to the airport.

“Stansted is one of the busiest and fastest growing airports in the UK so it’s important that while we continue to grow our route network and offer our passengers even more choice, we remain focused on doing all we can to reduce and mitigate the impacts of aircraft noise on the local community.

“The use of cutting edge technology and a collaborative approach to tackling important community issues clearly demonstrates how we can grow the airport in a sustainable and responsible way to maximise the benefits of an international airport while at the same time carefully managing the impacts of our operation.”