RESIDENTS of Andover can expect commercial aircraft flying over the town every 17 minutes during busy evenings - if a proposal to extend the airspace in Hamp-shire is approved by the Civil Aviation Auth-ority.

Figures forecast by National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the company behind the airspace extension proposal, indicate that the summer traffic currently using the southbound route into Southampton Airport on weekday evenings will be close to four planes every hour by 2015.

The new airspace will extend from Andover to Romsey, crossing the North Wessex Downs Area of Natural Beauty and New Forest National Park, and will see planes flying at altitudes as low as 5,500 feet.

At this height aircraft noise can reach up to 69 decibels for a Boeing 747-200, a level roughly equivalent to a car travelling at just under 40 mph, seven metres away.

But use of the airspace by these planes is described as very infrequent' in the proposal document.

Despite the proposed airspace bringing air traffic to within a few miles of the Army Air Corps training facility at Middle Wallop - one of the busiest grass airfields in Europe - most of the commercial flights will be at higher altitudes and during dead hours' when army personnel are not working.

The consultation period closes on 10 August, with the new airspace coming into use by April 2008, if the proposals are approved.

Anyone interested in commenting on the plans can view the full consultation document online at www.nats.co.uk/uploads/TCSW_cons_Issue1_Web_Final.pdf.