Edinburgh Airport has been accused of a “lack of transparency” and “questionable practice” over their consultation on new flight paths.

Mike Reid, of Baldridgeburn Community Council, also questioned if profits dictated which routes were included or removed from the process. 

Although in favour of airport expansion, he wrote to politicians and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to raise concerns about the public engagement exercise. 

He said: “The primary concern is the questionable practice and process being adopted by Edinburgh Airport executives in their ‘consultation’ effort. 

“At the recent meeting at Dunfermline City Chambers I lost all confidence that the public are being given transparency into the evaluation criteria. 

“Many of the routes are determined to be non-compliant. It emerged, reluctantly, through cross-examination that these options were not ‘off the table’ and that non-compliant in this case meant they did not meet design criteria that were important to airport management. 

“A flight path that is perfectly viable may not be as profitable for the airport owners.”

Edinburgh Airport are seeking views on their proposals to change flight paths.

There are concerns about an increase in the number of planes passing over West Fife homes, with residents worried about more noise and air pollution.

Airspace change programmes require at least 12 weeks of consultation before they can go ahead but Edinburgh has gone beyond that, offering two engagement exercises and amending some of their plans following feedback. 

A spokesman for the airport said: “We would urge Mr Reid to read the consultation document that was freely available at the public meeting some weeks ago in Dunfermline and is accessible online – it answers his questions on airspace change governance and the reasoning for non-compliant routes.

“One of the great gains of the preferred options that we are consulting on is that they move aircraft to overfly fewer people, meaning less overhead aircraft and less noise for population centres including Dunfermline.”

The CAA will have the final say but said they could not comment on specific concerns until the proposal is submitted. 

Dunfermline MP Douglas Chapman said: “I spoke to airport bosses just before the launch of the consultation to give my views and the views of constituents who had contacted me and will continue to do so. 

“The new flight paths as proposed tend to affect West Lothian much more than West Fife, but the public and community groups have until April 30 to make direct response to the current consultation.”

Shirley-Anne Sommerville, Dunfermline’s MSP, said: “Edinburgh Airport’s flight path proposals will be closely examined by the CAA before changes can be made, so it’s in airport management’s best interests to get their proposals right. 

“I will continue to engage with the airport to ensure that as much information as possible is available for my constituents, and I would encourage them to take part in the consultation at letsgofurther.com.”