The Impact Of Heathrow Airport On Social Life Of Local People

Background of the study

The aviation industry is one of those few sectors that are growing at a rapid pace. In 2011 alone, nearly 3 billion passengers were transported by the world’s different airlines. According to He et al. (2014), this humungous growth of aviation industry has contributed numerous social benefits along with economic benefits also. However, it is also true that these benefits are paired with some threats to societal health and wellbeing. Timmis et al. (2015) has argued that this is the most safest and efficient mode of transportation for the people. However, the question is “does these benefits are applied to the people or the communities living near an airport?”  It is true that as per WHO online reports; this industry has created over 60 million jobs globally (de Grosbois 2016). As a result, governments of different countries are favoring the expansion of airports. However, they cannot ignore the negative impacts that an airport can have on the society. According to Jiang and Zhang (2014), air and noise pollution caused by aviation industry have the prospective to disapprovingly impact the health of residents in the neighborhood of airports and under flight paths. A survey conducted in the year of 1997 revealed that nearly two-third of people living near an airport were annoyed by the noise of aircrafts and were affected by hearing loss, hypertension and sleep disorders (Adler 2014). However, over the past 20 years, the problems related to aircraft noise are reducing enormously. Still, the impact of aviation industry on the social life of the local people is huge. This research work will entirely focus on this issue and will try to find out whether the scenario has changed or not.

While air travelers are gaining number of benefits from the development of aviation industry, inhabitants of nearby communities bear the burden of the negative impacts. Airport-related establishment can affect community structure in a number of interrelated ways. Due to noise pollution and issues related to landscape, house values may fall (Zhang 2014). Nearby resident will find it difficult to sell their houses at a time and price that they have control over Buy-up schemes of airport operators may be constrained and troublesome. These drip-feed factors have the potential to reduce the value of remaining local properties. It can lead to a negative spiral or increased vagueness about the future of the community, more people moving out the area, and more houses being rented out (Belobaba et al. 2015). Stansted is the biggest example where among 170 properties, 36 were for sale and another 36 were vacant.

Background of the organization

Another social impact of aviation industry can be seen and experienced through the reports related to water pollution. It is obvious that airports create a range of probable pollutants that includes de-icing agents, chemicals from maintenance and painting chemicals, testing of fire tools and fuel leakage (Peeters and Bongaerts 2015). These can leached into ground water or can contaminate storm water run-off that will corrupt nearby water sources. On the other hand, nearby societies are also affected by the air pollution from airports. According to Dale (2014), motor vehicles are the primary source of air pollution near airports rather than aircrafts and ground equipments. It is found that, motor vehicles within an airport are responsible for spreading 25% of the total pollutants emitted from sources (Schäfer and Waitz 2014). Additionally, the construction works of an airport also pollutes the air trough excavation, burning of refuse and spray painting. As a result of water pollution and air pollution, communities near an airport are getting affected that also can be counted as social problem. However, recently the airport authorities are claiming that they have adapted sustainable technologies to prevent any type of pollution. They have also claimed that they are now using advanced engines that are reducing the noise problems. However, truth behind these statements is still unknown (Sanchez et al. 2014). This is why; it was important to conduct a research to find out the current scenario.

In the year of 1930, Richard Fairey who was a British aero engineer and aircraft builder bought a 150-acre plot to develop a private airport. The initial idea was to assemble and test aircrafts. However, in the year of 1939, the airfield was called as HarmondsworthAerodrome and sometimes Heathrow Aerodrome. In its first operational year, the airport was responsible for carrying nearly 70,000 passengers. By the year of 1951, this number increased to 800,000. In the year of 1961,the old terminal that was located on the north side was closed. The operations were shifted to Europe Terminal and Oceanic Terminal which are also known as terminal 2 and 3. Terminal 1 was added in the year of 1969, when the organization already had nearly 6 million passengers. Currently Heathrow is known as a world’s busiest international airport and the hub of the social aviation world. Currently over 70 million passengers are travelling through the airport per year

Currently, Heathrow is facing major criticism because of their expansion plans. As per mentioned by the mayor of London and local authorities, this expansion will breach the rules and regulations of EU and the UK government (Rules and regulations of EU is not applicable now as the United Kingdom is no longer an EU member) (Osborne 2015).However, the transport secretary of the country is planning to give the green light to new run way which is expected to be developed till 2030 (Smith 2016). This decision of transport minister Geoff Hoon sparked outrage and controversy.

Research rationale

According to Griggs and Howarth (2017), the questions that the people of UK are asking is whether thisexpansion of Heathrow will be green or not. This decision made by the transport minister is also criticized by all the opposition parties along with the people of UK as they are not ready to believe that this expansion will not affect the environment (Sheppard 2015). Reason behind this disbelief is Heathrow’s history that shows that the organization has already breached EU rules and regulations on air quality.Commission of Sustainable Development is also voting against this expansion as they believe that would further hamper the atmosphere drastically.

This case was recently broadcasted by a BBC program where it was showed that the government UK already knows that Heathrow breached the rules and regulations related to NO2 emission levels, an still giving permission for an extension (Griggs and Howarth 2013). However, government personnel stated that Heathrow will use only fuel-efficient and sustainable technologies while operating in this extended areas. However, people of UK do not believe this as it is assumed that by 2050 Heathrow’s contribution to overall UK’s emission would rise significantly (Yim et al. 2013). This argument was further expanded when celebrities like Alistair McGowan and Emma Thompson joined the protesters by acquiring pieces of land on the projected site of the runway. They have mentioned that this is the biggest hypocrisy in the history of mankind (Burghouwt et al. 2014). As a result, it was the high time to conduct this research in order to find out to what extend operations of Heathrow is affecting the society of the United Kingdom.

The main aim of the project is to analyze the impact of the Heathrow airport on the social life of the local people.

• To understand the positive and negative impact the airport is bringing in the life of the people living in the local community.
• To analyze the effects of the positive and negative impact of the airport in the society and people living in the local community.

Literature review is most important piece of overall dissertation. In the current context, the literature review has played an enormous role in providing a clear and detailed understanding of the aviation industry as a whole. The information regarding the airline industry has been quite crucial to develop the knowledge and skills that are essential for conducting the entire research work. The knowledge of the entire airline industry has helped to discern the aspects and working of the sector. The questionnaire formations as well as analysis of the data have been greatly influenced by this acquired knowledge. In addition to that, the knowledge has been able to enhance the research project to select most appropriate methodology that would be suitable in this context. With the above facilities, it can be easily observed that the literature review has been able to enhance the quality in a significant fashion. Therefore, it is evident that literature review has been most essential part of the entire study.

Aim of the research

Ghosh (2014) had developed a research work on the topic named “Plane truth: aviation’s real impact on people and the environment”. This research work had efficiently encapsulated the social and environmental consequences of the aviation industry. The global aircraft fleet had exceeded 20, 000 aircrafts and ferries close to more than 5.5 billion people. It had been projected to be doubled within the next 20 years. The negative impact of the air travel is not felt by the flyers. It had been mentioned in this study that, flyers were hoodwinked in order to prevent any kind of realization by making various false impressions. Airport authority develops these false impressions by taking some environmental friendly benefits. It had been mentioned in the study that, the repercussion of the air travel is highly relevant and they are significantly felt by people on ground. It had been analyzed that the air travel has significant impact on all the people who live near Heathrow. There were consequences, whether near the airports or under the paths of flight or beyond. These consequences are mainly experienced by all the community members who live near the arena of the airport.

Borenstein and Rose (2014) had developed a research work named “How airline markets work or do they? Regulatory reform in the airline industry”. In this research work the safety and security issues related with airline industry had been discussed. It had been found from this research work that the level of airline safety had been focused on government policies due to the infancy of the industry. Due to some fatal accidents, the Federal Aviation Administration had maintained its authority on all the aspects of air carrier safety. It included factors such as operating procedures, airline maintenance, training and controlling environmental hazards in the local community. However, some major opponents of Airline Deregulation Act warned that the increased amount of competitive pressure due to financial deregulation would reduce the amount of safety provided by the airline companies. However, there is no evidence that airlines companies have reduced their safety provisions due to financial deregulations. In this research work it had been mentioned that, this fact was not surprising. Maintaining safety and environmental sustainability in the local community can help a company to improve its reputation in mind of customers. It would also help to attract passengers towards a specific company. Safety and security issues had severe impact on customer satisfaction in aviation industry.  For example, VlaueJet failed to maintain such reputation and landed some credence to that view.     

Objectives of the research

Zhang et al. (2014) had developed a research work to analyze the market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry. This research worked helped to analyze the market power of Chinese airlines industry with the help of learner index. This research paper also helped to investigate the determinants of the airline industry as well. The empirical result gathered from this research work indicated that there was a certain level of power exists in the Chinese airline industry. It had been found that this airline has significant impact on the local community as well. Among the three major carriers of this industry, Air China had exhibited the strongest market power. On the other hand, China Southern Airlines had middle level of market power and China Eastern airline had lowest level of market power. It had been found that this airline industry had hub-premium effect just like the US airline market. It had been analyzed that, there were some major determinants of competition in the Chinese airline market that had influenced the market power of airline industry. They were such as income level of local people, population of the community, number of available competing companies and availability of low-cost and high speed carriers.

There was another research work developed by Chen and Hu (2013), in order to find out the mediating role of relational benefit between service quality and customer loyalty in airline industry. It had been mentioned in this research work that, service quality can help to measure the performance of a company along with transactional dimensions. The interaction between the service provider and customer is relational rather than transactional. Aim of this research work is to address the role of service quality and loyalty for the airline industry. A quantitative analysis had been conducted with help of a personal survey. It was distributed among 400 usable samples and obtained with 90% response rate. The result of this survey indicated that service quality had positive impact on relational benefit and on the customer loyalty within the airline industry. In addition, it had been found that relational benefit had influenced customer loyalty positively. It had been analyzed that relational benefits with the local community can significantly improve organizational performance of an airline organization.

Shaw (2016) had developed a research work on Airline marketing and management. It had been found form thus research work that air transport industry provides significant amount of social benefit to the people of the local community. It can improve quality of life by increasing leisure of people and their experience towards a specific culture. It also helped to improve the living standard and alleviate poverty with the help of tourism. In addition, it had been found from this research work that, in some case air travel is the only mean of transport to some remote areas and hence promote social inclusion. This research work indicated that airline industry has significant contribution is sustainable development. It can increase economic growth by increasing revenue from taxes, provides extra job opportunity and fostered conservation of the protected areas of the community. It had been found from this research work that the airline industry helps to reduce environmental impact on the community. Within the first 40 years, noise reduction had done by 75%. Within the next 2020, the airline industry has targeted to reduce the noise level by 50%. Presently, today’s fleet use more fuel-efficient engine compare to the engines used 40 years ago. It had reduced the CO2 emission by 50%, while smoke and unburned carbons were reduced by 90%.    

Literature Review

Airport has become a significant part of the global transport industry. Valotto and Varin (2016) stated that air travel network had made travelling less time consuming and easy to access. It also helped to increase the economic condition of a country as well. In addition, services, goods and passengers are reported easily with the help of airline. Airline industry also helped to increase employment opportunity as well.  

Heathrow Airport is one of the most renowned airlines of UK. It is located as the Hillingdon area situated at the West of Central London. Borenstein and Rose (2014) stated that, it is the second busiest airport in the world. The airline is presently serving 74.9 million passengers till the year of 2015. For this airport, aero plane in more than 185 destinations located in almost 84 countries all over the world. It had been found that airline industry have both positive and negative impact on the local community of UK. For instance, in the year of 20111, more than 50% of the local people were employed at Heathrow airport.

Shaw (2016) mentioned that aviation industry is considered as a major resource of business in UK. They connect almost all the top ranked cities all over the world. It had been found that most of airline companies have their head quarters in UK. It had been found that the Heathrow Airport had handled 62% of UK’s air fright. The airline had exported approximately £32.4 billion worth good. Airline industry of UK had also provided career development opportunity to the people of local community. In the year of 2015, it had been found that there are more than 5050 local people of UK have completed their pre-employment training and more than 3150 people of UK are employed in airline industry.     

It had been found that airports require huge amount of land to develop runway like London Heathrow airport (LHR) third runway expansion (Yan et al. 2013).   It includes acquisition of land and property form the people of local community. In addition, Ghosh (2014) mentioned that airports of UK cause high amount of air pollution and noise pollution, that effect the health of local people. It has severe impact on the local community.

It had been found that noise pollution near the airport region had severely affected the people of UK to a certain extent. Zerjav et al. (2015) mentioned that people living near the airport area have suffered from various health issues like strokes, cardiovascular diseases. All these diseases can also lead to death. A survey had made it clear that, people of UK, who live near airports have face various issues like hearing impairment, sleep disruption, speech interface issues and high blood pressure (Hansell et al. 2013). It had also been analyzed that people of UK, who live near the airport arena are also highly concerned about the quality of breathing air. Air qualities of different airports are also highly affected by different pollutants such as NO_x and PM_10.

Impact of airline industry on the societies is one of the most debatable topics of this era. Presence of an airport can have positive effects on the communities living nearby. However, it can also have negative effects. As mentioned by Borenstein and Rose (2014), airline industry contributes to people’s quality of life in several ways. By contributing to sustainable development, assisting remote communities and widening customer choice, airline industry is helping the society to live a better life. On the other hand, it is argued that flying possesses the capability to negatively affect the health of passengers. Besides, people living near to an airport also experiences several heath related issues.

Airline industry is making a huge contribution to sustainable development by assisting and encouraging international tourism. According to Dai et al. (2014), tourism helps to decrease the level of poverty in a country by generating economic growth, delivering employment opportunities and increasing collection of tax. It also helps to foster development and preservation of protected areas and environment. On the other hand, Borenstein and Rose (2014) stated that benefits that airline industry provides are nothing if compared with its harmful impacts. Air and noise pollution caused by aviation industry is more than capable of impacting the health of nearby residents negatively (Jiang and Zhang 2014). Besides, noise pollution seriously hampers health of inhabitants, detracts them from their quality of life and damages learning ability of the children.

Air transport delivers access to remote areas where other transport modes cannot reach. It helps to contact with new communities and allows delivering essential supplies and services. The biggest benefit that airlines industry provides is its capability to play a major role in charitable assistance to the countries that are facing natural disasters, famine and way through cargo deliveries. However, Jenatabadi (2013) mentioned that these benefits of airline industry can be neglected after finding out what it does to the people living near to an airport. European Commission stated that people living near an airport has a huge risk of coronary heart disease and stroke because of high blood pressure. Noise of an airport can also affect health and development of children also. A study conducted by The Lancet showed that children who are living near airports in Britain, Spain and Holland generally fall behind in their reading levels by two months.

Noise disturbance is always considered as a major issue. However, its impact is not a lasting one on the environment, but it can have tremendous adverse effect on the people living close to an airport. In order to measure noise levels, the most popular unit is dB(A). A guide to noise level was provided by European Community where it can be clearly seen that aircrafts are producing more noise than anything (Griggs and Howarth 2013). The guideline is provided below.

Regular conversation: 50-60 dB(A)

A loud radio: 65-75 dB(A)

A busy region or street: 78-85 dB(A)

A heavy truck that is 7 meters away: 90-110 dB(A)

A chain saw: 120-125 dB(A)

A jet aircraft that is taking off 30 meters away: 150 dB (A)

Another benefit of airline industry is its contribution towards customer welfare. Travel and tourism sector that entirely depends on airlines industry helps to enhance the understanding of dissimilar cultures and nationalities that in turn facilitates closer international amalgamation. Recently a number of low-cost airline companies are launched that are helping to increase the range of probable holiday destinations. Along with these advantages, one critical disadvantage of airline industry is its habit to spread air pollution. Air pollution caused by airline industry can lead to a varied number of deceases, especially in urban locations.  The journal of Environmental Science and Technology has revealed that airbuses flying at cruise altitude of 36,000 feet release pollutants that is responsible for causing 10,000 deaths per year de (Grosbois 2016). However, Sanchez (2014) argued that airline companies are working hard to altering the negative effects that they are causing. This industry is using its business to give back to the communities worldwide through the support of charitable companies. Nowadays, every airline companies are contributing huge amount of capital to charitable organizations (Jiang and Zhang 2014). On the other hand, most of the airlines companies have a miles incentive plan which is donated to charities for free traveling. Therefore, it is tough to say whether the airlines companies are providing negative or positive impacts on the societies.

The airline industry is one of the most important industries in the economic stability of UK. In the current context, it has been noted that airline industry employs more than 9.9 million direct jobs at the time of providing service of three billion customers as well as fifty million tonnes of freight transport all over the world. There are suitable evidences that suggest that the total contribution of airline industry to the global GDP is around $664.4 billion. The aviation is most significant sector that contributes a much higher percentage of GDP, in comparison with the other sectors such as automotive industry, chemicals manufacturing as well as global financial service industry. In addition to that, aviation industry is also popular for its impact of $761.4 billion on indirect GDP. The total amount of indirect GDP includes various supplier activities as well as employment activities to the air transport industry. The call centres, accountancy as well as information technology greatly influenced by the airline industry. In addition to that, airline industry successfully produces $355 billion of induced GDP. The jobs in a range of service industries, production companies as well as retail outlets are greatly supported by this induced GDP. As every nation around the world is focused on enhancing the tourism industry, the airline industry plays a very crucial role in the contemporary world. It has been identified that the global airline industry supports $892.4 billion in the tourism activities throughout the world. Therefore, it can be easily discerned that the airline industry intensely influence the economic stability as well as prosperity around the world.

However, there are enough evidences that suggest that the benefit of airline industry is nothing but the planned propaganda by the nations. It indicates that the hidden costs of the aviation are way beyond the actual contribution of the airline industry. It can be simply concluded by analyzing the external costs of aviation industry that it is a constant loss centric service. In addition to that, it must be taken into consideration that the economic contribution ca no way disperse the damage done to the environment. The cost estimated for the economic damage from the climate change is far surmountable in comparison with the economic benefit of airline industry. In addition to that, it has been also identified in the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 18th Report, that aviation industries enjoys double subsidies compared to the other sectors. Many of costs are externalized by the airline industry and it also escapes from the taxation. It has been also revealed that the aviation is essentially a system that drains the balance of payments around the world.

Most forms of aviation are seen to release carbon dioxide and other green houses gases to the atmosphere that accelerates global warming and ocean acidification. These issues are especially highlighted in the current volume of commercial aviation and its amount of growth. Currently, nearly 9 million people are travelling daily where the United States of America alone have consumed nearly 17 billion gallons of fuel between October 2014 and September 2015 (Chang et al. 2014). In addition to the CO2 emissions, other emissions are also there such as nitric oxide and nitrogen oxide alongwith sulfur oxide, carbon monoxide, incompletely burned hydrocarbons and radicals such as hydroxyl.

Burning of hydrocarbons in oxygen also produces water vapors which is another green house gas. Water vapors that are generated by aircraft engines forms contrails that is visible as line clouds. These line clouds are also a major contributor to global warming. According to Schäfer and Waitz (2014), emission done by passenger aircrafts per customer varies extensively because of several factors. Factors such as the size and type of aircraft, altitude and percentage of customers along with cargo capacity influence the amount of emission. Some figures related to CO2 emission are provided by LIASTO’s survey which is mentioned below.

Local and short distance aircrafts that cover less 470 km: 300g/km CO2

Local, long distance aircrafts that cover more than 500 km: 180g/km CO2

Long distance aircrafts: 120g/km CO2

As mentioned by (Arjomandi and Seufert 2014), these emissions are similar to the emission released by a four-seat car with only one passenger in it. However, flying trips most of the time cover longer distances than car trips and that is why; the amount of emission is also higher. In the year of 2013, a report was published by Word Bank that included a study of the effect of CO2 emissions (Timmis et al. 2015). From the study it was found that when considering particular average load factors in each of the seating classes, the carbon footprints of business class and first class are three times and nine times higher than economy class.

According to the IPCC aviation industry is responsible for nearly 4% of anthropogenicclimate change. IPCC has also delivered scenarios that also estimated what is this percentage could be in the year of 2050. According to IPCC, aviation’s contribution to global warming and environmental pollution will increase by 5% by 2050 if any action is not taken to tackle the emissions (Arjomandi and Seufert 2014). However, in recent years, significant improvements can be seen in aviation industry, especially in terms of fuel efficiency. It has been done by improving aircraft technology and activities of operational management. According to Schäfer and Waitz (2014), aircrafts are capable to generate 43 GT of carbon pollutants by 2050 which will nearly consume 5% of the remaining global climate budget. It is evident that without the presence of proper regulations, emission at the global level may increase up to 300% by mid century. Till now, lots of steps are taken to bring aviation emission under control. However, all steps are failed in spite of having a number of technological and operational enhancements.

In this chapter, several concepts and theories related to the impact of aviation are discussed in detail. From the discussion it is seen that in some areas, aviation industry has both negative and positive impacts. However, in most of the aspects it is seen that aviation industry is affecting the society in various ways.

In this chapter, research methodology for this particular research is described in a detailed manner. Research methodology is known as a systematic method that helps to develop the entire process in a proper way. In research methodology several types of related concepts and ideas that are appropriate with this research are described (Bergh and Ketchen 2011). Information related to research philosophy, research approach, method of data collection and sampling technique are also provided in this chapter of the dissertation. Additionally, research limitations, ethical considerations of this research are also mentioned in this chapter.

Research method outline includes descriptive purpose of the research along with deductive approach and post positivism philosophy of research (Bernard 2011). On the other hand, primary data was gathered for evaluating those gathered using quantitative approach. Besides, secondary data was also gathered from several books, journals and websites.

Main purpose of research philosophy is to deliver the dimension and information of the specific research study. It helps to gather best available knowledge along with concepts for carrying out the entire research in a proper way. Major types of research philosophies are Ontology and Epistemology (Creswell 2011). Ontology mostly refers to the reality where epistemology refers to the gather information. Post positivism philosophy is another research philosophy that helps to cross check gathered data of the research. It is known to deal with previous research studies and deliver information of the findings of the data that has been analyzed earlier. It is the most popular and most used research philosophy as it helps to helps to uphold the clarity of the specific research study.

In order to conduct this study, post positivism research philosophy will be used. As this research topic depends on theoretical and practical perspective of reality, post-positivism has helped to deal with advanced thinking of the study (Crouch and Pearce 2012). Because of post positivism, it was possible to complete the entire research work with the help of real and cross checked data.

There are two types of research approaches which are Inductive and Deductive that are commonly used in research works (Crowther and Lancaster 2012). Deductive research approach aims to verify previous theories and models where inductive research approach generates new theories that depend on the gathered data.

For this specific research work, Deductive Approach was used in order to appropriately solve previous theories and models related to the topic. On the other hand, deductive approach has also helped to conduct the entire research with proper exploitation of earlier models and theories (Dul and Hak 2012).

Mostly three types of research purposes are commonly used in researches which are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. Main aim of research purposes is to deliver an appropriate purpose for the research work. Exploratory reach work is used in the case of long term research works. It is also connected with inductive approach of the research. According to Gummerson (2012), exploratory research purpose is able to connect several ideas for understanding the cause and effect of the specific research study. On the other hand, descriptive research purpose helps to develop a whole research with more amount of exploration. More number of explorations helps to gather detail information related to the topic.

For this research work, descriptive research purpose is used which has helped to explain and explore all the areas connected to the research topic with additional information (Hesse-Biber 2012). As a result of using descriptive research purpose, it was possible to develop proper picture of the research studyby incorporating added knowledge.

For conducting this research, survey questionnaire method was used. The strategy of survey questionnaire was used in order to gather important real time data that can be investigated for the research study (Lancaster 2012).

On the other hand, previous research data and results were gathered from journals and websites (Leavy and Hesse-Biber 2012. Relevant literature including theories and models related to the topic was gathered from books and blogs.

It is important to gather various types of data in order properly complete the entire research process (Leedy and Ormrod 2012). Information related to data collection for this research is provided below.

In any research work, two types of data sources are used commonly. Those are primary sources and secondary sources. Primary data are gathered via interview, survey and questionnaire method (Roger 2011). On the other hand, secondary data means several types of data that are already published through journals, books, websites and blogs.

For this research work, both primary and secondary data are collected (Saunders et al. 2011). Primate data was collected from the neighbors of Heathrow in order to find out their perspective on the research topic. Questionnaire was distributed via social media sites such as Facebook. Besides, secondary data was also collected to find out relevant theories and models.

Mainly two types of data collection techniques are used in any type of research work. Those data collection techniques are quantitative and qualitative data analysis technique (Brannen 2012). For this particular research work, quantitative data analysis method is used for evaluating data collected from the residents living near to Heathrow Airport. On the other hand, in order to analyze the secondary data, thematic analysis was done for this research (Cameron 2012).

Probability and Non Probability sampling techniques are vastly used in most of the research works (Ellis and Levy 2012). In this research study, probable sampling method was used in order to gather information from the residents living around the Heathrow Airport.

Quantitative data was collected from 100 neighbors who are living near Heathrow Airport. Among them, only 50 people provided proper answer of the questions. Therefore, sample size for this research study is 50.

Among several issues that hampered this research work, accessibility issue was the most critical one. After distributing questionnaire, it was seen only 50 participants completed it properly (Freshwater 2012). On the other hand, it was really tough to find out relevant journals and books that could provide appropriate information.

In every step of the data collection method, Data Protection Act 1998 was followed in a proper manner. None of the participants were forced to take part in the research work and they were allowed the quit the survey at any point of time. Within the questionnaire all the questions were related to the topic (Hanson and Grimmer 2012). No personal question was added in the questionnaire that might hamper the privacy of the participants. On the other hand, all the gathered data was kept confidential (Hooper 2012). In no situation these data will be shared with any third party. These data will be used only for the academic purpose.

The major limitation for this research was time and budget. The entire research was completed within six months which is not enough to gather ample amount of data. Besides, sufficient budget was not there to distribute questionnaire to a larger group of people.

Main activities/ stages	Month February	Month March	Month April	Month May	Month June	Month July
Topic Selection	ü
Data collection from secondary sources	ü	ü
Framing layout of the research		ü
Literature review		ü	ü	ü
Formation of the research Plan			ü	ü
Selection of the Appropriate Research Techniques				ü	ü
Primary data collection					ü	ü
Analysis & Interpretation of Data Collection					ü	ü
Conclusion of the Study						ü
Formation of Rough Draft						ü
Submission of Final Work						ü

Table 1: Timeline

(Created by the author)

The data analysis chapter is most essential portion of the entire research project as it assists to attain most practical and effective research findings. The interpretations of the research data as well as evaluation of the results are the major steps of the attaining efficient findings of the research. These significant steps are the major pillar of data analysis, which makes it most imperative part of the entire study. In the current context, the research work has selected 50 residents of local community surrounding LHR so that the most realistic and effective observation can be recorded as the research data. The descriptive statistics has been used as major statistical tool of quantitative data analyzing procedure.

Options	Frequency	ResponsePercentage (%)	Total Respondents
Below 29 years	18	36	50
29 – 38 years	11	22	50
39 – 48 years	12	24	50
Above 48 years	9	18	50

Table 2: Age group of the respondents

Mean	2.24
Median	2
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	1.13497

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Male	27	54	50
Female	23	46	50

Table 3: Gender group of the respondents 

Mean	1.46
Median	1
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.50346

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Less than 5 years	12	24	50
5 – 10 years	13	26	50
11 – 15	14	36	50
More than 15 years	11	34	50

Table 4: Period of living near airport 

Mean	2.48
Median	2.5
Mode	3
Standard Deviation	1.09246

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	21	42	50
Agree	22	44	50
Neutral	1	2	50
Disagree	4	8	50
Strongly Disagree	2	4	50

Table 5: Direct Job Opportunities

Mean	1.88
Median	2
Mode	2
Standard Deviation	1.06215

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	22	44	50
Agree	20	40	50
Neutral	2	4	50
Disagree	5	10	50
Strongly Disagree	1	2	50

Table 6: Elevation of living of life

Mean	1.86
Median	2
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	1.03036

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	19	38	50
Agree	20	40	50
Neutral	1	2	50
Disagree	7	14	50
Strongly Disagree	3	6	50

Table 7: Alternative Job Opportunities

Mean	2.1
Median	2
Mode	2
Standard Deviation	1.23305

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	23	46	50
Agree	21	42	50
Neutral	2	4	50
Disagree	3	6	50
Strongly Disagree	1	2	50

Table 8: Social Communication Enhancement 

Mean	1.76
Median	2
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.93808

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	16	32	50
Agree	20	40	50
Neutral	2	4	50
Disagree	7	14	50
Strongly Disagree	5	10	50

Table 9: Severe Health Issue Creation

Mean	2.3
Median	2
Mode	2
Standard Deviation	1.32865

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	24	48	50
Agree	21	42	50
Neutral	1	2	50
Disagree	2	4	50
Strongly Disagree	2	4	50

Table 10: Air Pollution Responsibility

Mean	1.74
Median	2
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.98582

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	25	50	50
Agree	21	42	50
Neutral	1	2	50
Disagree	2	4	50
Strongly Disagree	1	2	50

Noise Pollution Contribution

Mean	1.66
Median	1.5
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	0.87155

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Strongly Agree	17	34	50
Agree	16	32	50
Neutral	3	6	50
Disagree	12	24	50
Strongly Disagree	2	4	50

Table 12: Negative Impact Reduction 

Mean	2.32
Median	2
Mode	1
Standard Deviation	1.28476

Options	Frequency	Response Percentage (%)	Total Respondents
Highly Satisfied	4	8	50
Satisfied	5	10	50
Neutral	1	2	50
Not Satisfied	18	36	50
Not Satisfied at all	22	44	50

Table 13: Satisfaction Level of the attempts

Mean	3.98
Median	4
Mode	5
Standard Deviation	1.26958

The data analysis has been most effective as the research work has collected the data from respondents of diverse age group as well as different gender. It has provided an essential edge in the context of reflecting most realistic result. The tenure of living in the local community has been also successful to indicate the various perceptions of the respondents. It has been identified from the analysis of the data that the LHR has been highly successful to provide a sustainable economic development in the local community. The direct job opportunities as well as alternative job opportunities has been most positive impact of the LHR. Moreover, the ease of social communication has been another major positive impact of LHR.

In addition to that, LHR has been able to elevate the standard of living for the people of local communities. However, the data analysis has been also quite effective to point out several major negative impact of LHR. The local respondents has been quite vocal with regards to the noise pollution, air pollution and severe health issues as a byproduct of LHR. Although, the LHR attempt to minimize these negative effects, it does not stand satisfactory in front of the local community.

The findings of the research have been quite successful to support the observation of the literature. The data findings has been able to provide a better understanding on the intricacies of various positive and negative impacts of LHR. In addition to that, it has been successful to indicate the level of impacts of these effects on the local communities.

The data analysis chapter has been most essential portion of the entire research project as it assists to attain most practical and effective research findings. The descriptive statistics has been used as major statistical tool of quantitative data analyzing procedure. Central tendency nature if the data analysis has been highly useful to derive most effective research outcomes from the data range. Therefore, the data analysis chapter has been considered as the most useful part of the overall project.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion:

The conclusion chapter has been most useful part of this particular study as it helped to conclude the research outcome conducted on the topic of ‘LHR and Local community’. It has been able to link the research objectives with the overall activities conducted in the study. In addition to that, the conclusion chapter has been successful to provide effective suggestion to retain the positive impacts and reduce the negative effects of LHR on the local community. Therefore, it can be easily derived that the conclusion chapter has been highly satisfactory for the entire study.

The research project has sincerely attempted to relate the research objective throughout the entire study. In this context, the literature review has been quite successful to reveal various aspects of airports and its impact on the local community. It has immensely emphasized on disclosing each and every positive as well as negative impact of the airports on the local community. In addition to that, it has also tried to provide a detailed understanding on the level of impact that affects the people of local community. The findings of the research have been quite successful to support the observation of the literature. The data findings have been able to provide a better understanding on the intricacies of various positive and negative impacts of LHR. In addition to that, it has been successful to indicate the level of impacts of these effects on the local communities. It has been observed that the major positive effects of LHR have been sustainable economic development through the direct job opportunities, alternative job opportunities the ease of social communication as well as elevation of the standard of living for the people of local communities. On the other hand, the negative impacts have been noise pollution, air pollution and severe health issues as a byproduct of LHR. Therefore, it can be easily observed that the research project has successfully linked the objectives with entire study.

LHR can improve its interaction with the local community and improve its profit through undertaking some steps. Improved interaction with the local community will help to improve their profit, through enhanced contribution of community towards airport’s sustainability.

Reduction of energy consumption

The aircraft management system includes a range of services and activities, which require a huge amount of energy. A huge amount of energy consumption, in one hand enhancing the operational cost of the aviation company; on the other hand, contribute significantly in environment pollution, thereby negatively affecting the local community. The LHR can integrate solar energy system as the sole source of energy in the airport. Instead of the fact that it is expensive initially, but would lower the annual cost for energy consumption in the airport. It would also improve the impact of environmental pollution associated with the high energy consumption in the airport. The installation of solar energy system would be environment friendly and cut the cost of other energy consumption. In addition, reducing the harmful energy consumption and its environmental impact upon the local community, it would also satisfy the local community, thereby attracting more consumers towards their services.

One key concern of the aviation industry is its negative environment impact upon the local community. Within the negative environmental impacts of an airport to its local community is noise pollution. Managing aircraft noise is a toolkit for managing community expectations. During the landing and take offs of aircrafts, a high decibel of noise is being generated, polluting the community. Therefore, the airport authority should invest more in introducing aircraft parts, which would produce less noise, to reduce noise pollution, thereby contributing towards community welfare. There are several brands focusing on producing aircraft products. In addition, they can also improve their infrastructure by integrating modern high-bypass turbofan engines, which are quitter than the low-bypass turbojets. The airport authority can also undertake an initiative to insulate residencies near airports, to reduce health impacts of nearby residents. The airport authority should analyze the variation of aircraft types, local meteorology and flight patterns, which will help them to evaluate the benefits from building retrofit strategies including window glazing improvement, roof upgrading, fireplace baffling, caulking construction and others. In addition, based on the requirement, they can modify the flight schedules, restricting night flying, thereby reducing noise exposure to the local community at night.

The LHR needs to participate in local community welfare through social well being programs, for instance, they can contribute to the local charities and health care funds. The airport authority can also contribute to the educational funds in the local community. In addition, participation in the social programs or launching an environmental program related to improved greenery and reduced environmental impact would also strengthen the relationship of the aircraft business with the local authority. The airport authority can arrange cooperative partnership with the local authorities. Featured campaign is another way, which can promote aviation business in the local community, while contributing to a positive interaction with the local authority, i.e. contributing to community well being. More participation in the sociocultural activities enhances the interaction of the airport authority with the business.

To improve profit and attract more consumers, it is important to adopt an appropriate pricing strategy by the aircraft company. They should plan their pricing strategy by providing equal and fair opportunity to every customer. It would enhance consumer’s trust towards the aircraft company. The airport authority can provide a small portion of ticket price money to local community’s welfare, which can be taken from customers. In addition, they can provide attractive offers to their potential customers, for enhancing profit. Too high price of air tickets can reduce the access of air travelling with the company, especially in the case of middle class passengers. However, too low price of tickets would not lead to the company to make profit. Therefore, the organization should introduce a middle range pricing strategy along with offers for potential customers, to make benefits and profit.

Technology is required in each steps of airport management. An improved and upgraded management can improve its impact upon the local community, thereby enhancing the local community’s trust and interaction with the airport activities. The LHR can introduce the use of a computer model, for stimulating the effects of aircraft noise upon building structures. Using satellite-based navigation systems can also offer noise relief to the local communities. Several trials has revealed that steeper angles for take-off and landing, using precise flight paths and allowing control of noise footprint of aircraft that is departing from the airport. Further technologies for switching flight paths with the help of satellite-based navigation system can contribute to further noise reduction.

On the other hand, several software companies are offering potential software technologies for managing the airport infrastructure and reduce operational cost, thereby enhancing annual profit and sustainability of the business. These technologies would help LHR to automate and streamline operations. These technologies include electronic version of existing documents carried on the commercial aircraft, electronic journey log, electronic folders and flight briefing papers, which helps the pilots to access onboard services and related activities. eTechlog and electronic version of briefing papers to help the airline staffs for reducing and managing defects, which in turn reduce annual operational cost of the company and enhancing its revenue. 

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